


Miraculous Souls

by SorryJustAnotherPerson, SymphonicScream



Category: Miraculous Ladybug, Soul Eater
Genre: Action, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Chloé Bourgeois Friendship, Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Alternate Universe - Soul Eater Fusion, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Blood and Violence, But you don’t need to actually watch it, Crack ships will be seen, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Good Chloé Bourgeois, Good Teacher Caline Bustier, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Lila Rossi Redemption, M/M, Minor Angst, Multi, Soul Bond, Soul Eater AU, Soul Eater References, Witches, and she needs a raise, chaos square, we’ll explain, youll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:55:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 37,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27056788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SorryJustAnotherPerson/pseuds/SorryJustAnotherPerson, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SymphonicScream/pseuds/SymphonicScream
Summary: A new school year is starting at DUPONT, which means a whole new wave of weapons and meisters hoping that they have what it takes to help rid the world of those who have strayed from the path of humanity. However, something sinister is brewing on the horizon. Will this new generation of meisters and weapons have what it takes to face up to the threat?Or, a Miraculous Soul Eater AU
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Chloé Bourgeois, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alix Kubdel & Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Aurore Beauréal/Sabrina Raincomprix, Chloé Bourgeois/Alix Kubdel, Ivan Bruel/Mylène Haprèle, Juleka Couffaine & Luka Couffaine, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Luka Couffaine/Kagami Tsurugi, Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Max Kanté/Lê Chiến Kim, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Plagg/Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug)
Comments: 36
Kudos: 86





	1. The First Day is Here - Introducing the Square!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to DUPONT students...

A dark moped shot down the street, boosted by the wind itself. The driver struggled to maintain order of the machine, his arms shaking from the effort. Where his torso should have been was a long metal staff, and the only thing that kept him on the moped was the boy hugging it to his chest tightly. 

The driver grit his teeth, and shouted back to the other occupant of the moped. “You can slow down now!”

“What?” The girl on the back of the bike called back, still swinging the weapon around. The wind roared in their ears, and the driver barely heard her.

“I said, you can slow down now!” He called louder this time, the back of his throat burning as the wind rushed by. He turned his head to shout again, not noticing that his arms had moved with him. “Slow down!”

“ _What_?” She called back even louder.

“I _said_ -” The driver didn’t get to finish his sentence, as suddenly the boy holding his waist shrieked in horror. Then, just as the driver turned back to look again, they were airborn.

All four started screaming as the moped shot off the side of the road, soaring over the Tiber river below. All four teens felt their lives flash before their eyes— as they were then swallowed into the water.

...

“...Right. Now would one of you please explain to me how the four of you, who have the highest recommendations out of all of the incoming class, managed to fuck up this badly?” Gabriel Agreste sat behind his desk, staring down at the four silent teens in front of him. None of them met his eyes, their gazes tainted by shame. “Well? I’m waiting. Mr Couffaine? Ms Dupain-Cheng? Ms Tsurugi? _Adrien_?”

None of them spoke up. Gabriel rubbed at his forehead in irritation, already done with the whole situation. “Adrien. Tell me what happened.”

“...yes, father.” His son cast his eyes to the floor, one of his legs bouncing. “I’ll start from the beginning.”

...

Adrien had been rather fidgety throughout the ride to DUPONT, his hands never sitting idle for long. He could tell his father was bothered by it, but he didn’t comment on it. 

He’d already gotten the talk about being on his best behaviour that morning, just as Nathalie helped him select the best outfit for making new friends. She was more experienced than him in that regard, he assumed. She probably had more friends than he did. Adrien could tell that when she was a student at DUPONT, Nathalie had been the most popular student there!

The car pulled up outside the front doors of the school, and Adrien’s nerves returned. What if he couldn’t find a weapon that he could work with? What if no one matched his wavelength and he was left alone? What if Father changed his mind right now and-

...

“Adrien, get on with it, _please_.” Gabriel interrupted, stopping his son mid-spiral, his eyes narrowed in annoyance as he tapped his fingers impatiently against his intertwined fingers and knuckles.

…

Right, he was retelling what happened, right, right.

The car pulled up in front of DUPONT, and Adrien followed behind his father as the man climbed out of the car gracefully. What a pair they must have looked like; Gabriel Agreste in his best suit, wearing it as if it were a second skin, and awkward little Adrien, the cuffs of his sleeves coming down over the base of his hands, his shoes just a size too big.

“Remember, Adrien.” Gabriel tutted as he reached down to adjust the little badge on Adrien’s shirt that marked him as a meister. “You are one of, if not, _the_ greatest meister of your generation. You must find a weapon that can match your potential, nothing less. Understood?”

“Yes, father.” Adrien felt like he said that a lot, especially lately. It seemed to satisfy Gabriel enough, because he nodded and climbed back into the car. Adrien watched the family car drive back towards the manor for a minute, before letting out his jitters with a little shake. 

The cold biting air of the already exhausting morning being the only thing keeping him standing. He gave his face a soft pat on the cheeks. “Alright, Adrien, it’s game time!” He said to himself.

“Talking to yourself? That’s one way to guarantee that you’ll end the day alone.” A voice snarked out behind him. _Oh thank death,_ he thought, as he looked behind him to see his best friend with glee. Chloe was already here! He couldn’t imagine going through the day without the other meister by his side! Things had to be looking up already with her!

Like always, Chloe’s hair was up in her standard fluffy ponytail with a skull hair band holding it, and her sunglasses were poking out of one of the pockets of her pale and carefully worn jacket. Her studded belt rested on her hips with the brand symbol AB- without a doubt her mother’s brand. Chloe held a pride of being Audrey Bourgeois’s daughter after all.

Chloe’s leather boot tapped slightly impatiently against the ground, the buckles attached jingling a little, though she was holding the small badge instead of wearing it. Probably not wanting to ‘ruin’ her perfect clothes.

…

“Oh, so that’s what that brat’s name was.”

“SHHHH SHSHSHSHS!” Adrien yelled, putting a finger to his face at Marinette. “I’M TELLING MY STORY, AND SHE IS NOT A BRAT.” 

“Adrien.”

“Right, sorry father”

...

Tagging behind her was Sabrina, loyal as always, her soft ginger hair also in a small ponytail, despite her bob hair cut, resulting in only a small ‘poof’ at the back of her head. A skull barrette on the side. Resting on her freckled covered face, was her carefully placed glasses, and her uniform like clothing was neatly ironed, along with her simple plaid skirt. Unlike the other two, the badge pinned to her chest proudly marked her as ‘weapon’.

Adrien’s face broke out into a beaming smile, his nerves completely obliterated by his two friends. “Hey guys! Sorry I’m late, I hope I didn’t miss anything?”

Chloe scoffed, but there was no malice behind it. “Yeah, there’s no concern there. Some teacher or upper year student just told us to mingle, I can’t remember.”

“So you haven’t found your partners yet?” He asked.

Now _that_ had been a sore subject in their little group for a while. It was no secret that Chloe and Sabrina had been hoping that their wavelengths would be compatible, but by the looks of their slightly cringing faces again, it was once again proved that it was just not meant to be. 

Sure, it had been a little funny watching Chloe struggle to handle their friend’s rifle form the first time they tried, but Adrien had also felt a deep sadness at the sight. The two girls _were_ close after all, and seeing their crushed expressions after had erased his previous enjoyment.

Both girls shook their heads. _Great_ , Adrien thought to himself. He wanted to be there when they did find their perfect partners. Likewise, he’d ideally want them there for him as well. Putting on a brave and bright grin, he strode forward with a sense of gusto he couldn’t fully feel, looking towards them again.

“Well no point in pushing it back any longer!” He said. “C’mon guys, let’s go face our destinies!”

Adrien pushed open the doors to the foyer of the school, and was practically knocked off his feet as a small body and flurry of hot pink shot past him. 

“Shit!” The figure barrelled right into Chloe, sending both of them rolling across the ground. Adrien and Sabrina whipped around, as a few tumbles were masked by a flash of light- before a few clatters were heard.

Opening his eyes, Adrien could see Chloe lying in a daze on the ground, her poor white coat now slightly dirty. What caught his eye though was the long, golden, luxurious double sided palm axe with wraps covering the handle with red, almost copper, accents on it’s blades- laying directly on top of her.

Coming out of the gates out of breath was a young boy looking around their age with soft strawberry red hair that covered one of his eyes, dressed only in dark tattered clothes. 

“Alix are you okay!?” He sputtered.

“Wow thanks, ask the weapon and not the girl it’s laying on top of.” Chloe snarked.

“I’m doing fine, Nathaniel.” A voice spoke out from the axe, a reflection of a young pink haired girl flashing cross the blade.

‘Nathaniel’ sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. “I’m so sorry about my friend here, let me help you drag her off, she’s really heavy as a weapon so-“

Chloe promptly ignored him and held the weapon up in one hand. “What’d you say?”

“Well that was quick.” Sabrina said a little sourly. The red haired boy’s jaw dropped for a moment. Chloe quirked up an eyebrow.

“Yes yes, eat it all up, I know I’m a piece of work.” Chloe said, flicking her hair to the side pridefully before shrugging. “Whatever, take your axe back I’ve got better things to do-“

“Wait wait wait!”

She tossed the palm axe onto the boy, who was suddenly dropped down onto the ground from the weight it really carried. Chloe’s eyes blinked with surprise as Nathaniel let out a wheeze of pain.

Adrien smiled sheepishly at her and did his own best to pick the weapon up, to show his own failure at picking it up. His muscles straining to even slightly move it.

Chloe slowly stepped forward and plucked it off of the young boy’s body, staring down at the blade for a long drawn out moment.

“Well, good luck with that Chloe!” Sabrina said quickly, awkwardly shuffling off “Byeeeeee-“

“W-Wait Sabrina!”

“I said byeee-“ Adrien watched as the ginger skittered away.

“S-Sabrina wait, we were supposed to do this together!” Adrien yelped, looking back at the still shell shocked Chloe, then at the already disappearing Sabrina- before reluctantly running after her.

“Hang on don’t run off without me!” Chloe’s voice barely reached him anymore as he ran after Sabrina, only to lose the girl in the crowds.

… 

“Oh yeah, I remember seeing that.” Luka piped up, as the office’s attention switched to him. He was leaning back in his chair casually, rocking back on the legs. “Those harmonies were real _crunchy._ ”

“...crunchy?” Marinette asked, looking very confused at his terminology.

Luka hummed, lowering his chair again so it was sitting level on the ground. “Yeah, crunchy. There was a real nice set of consonant melodies in there, but it was being drowned out by the rest of the parts in there. If you took out all the different melodies and listened to them on their own, they all would’ve sounded just fine, but mixed the way they were, it was just awful.”

“What sort of nonsense are you going on about?” Gabriel huffed, his eyebrows knitting together. This was supposed to be a short meeting, not whatever _this_ was. “Nevermind, I don’t care. Would one of you just tell me what happened?”

“Sure, I’ll take my turn.” Luka shrugged, leaning back again as he began to recount the day-

…

Luka leaned his head back against the wall behind him, watching the other new DUPONT students mingle. 

The large room was overflowing with song, and as he expected, it was a little overwhelming at some moments, as wavelengths crackled and hummed with each other. That mess at the entrance had been especially obnoxious to his sensitive ears.

A soft but firm hand on his arm drew his attention back to his sister Juleka, who looked at him kindly. Her soft dark hair cascading over her shoulders like pools of inky void, only highlighted by the soft violets that would glimmer in the sunlight.

They had both barely been able to escape the house and the terrors of their mother trying to dress them ‘nicely’ for their first day, which they both knew would’ve looked like something ridiculous.

Luka adjusted his light denim jacket tightly, picking a little at the sewn patches and seams he had made as his sneakers squeaked on the floor sheepishly. He was never the diva, Juleka wasn’t either, but they both weren’t showing up to school in any of the Pirate Outfits their mom would most certainly shove the two into.

Juleka had the biggest offense with their mom trying to dress them, as she was highly satisfied with doing her own gothic fashion. She wore a tattered sleeveless overcoat that drifted around her legs, and for once, she wasn’t hiding under it’s long decorated hood.

Her purple shirt with flower lace sleeves had a striped pattern, her hands glittered with her skull panjas bracelets, and doing her best not to tap too much on the ground, were her buckle covered pair of combat boots.

She was always the more fashionable one out of the two of them, though she did look like some Shinigami cosplayer of some sorts. 

The two of them were usually inseparable at events like this. Jules was a little on the shy side, and big crowds could overwhelm Luka quickly if there were some loud melodies in there. With the other present, they always had someone who could recognize their signs of discomfort and get them out of a bad situation.

Plus, it was easier to kick ass with her.

“Do you need to step out and take a break?” Juleka nodded in the direction of one of the doors that looked like they lead out to the courtyard. 

Luka shook his head, patting his sister’s head with just more force than was necessary, just to irk her a little. “I’m good, those harmonies were a little crunchy.”

… 

“ _Stop_ calling harmonies crunchy, I’m begging you.” Marinette broke, glaring across the office at the blue haired boy.

Luka pretended to think it over. “Nah.”

…

Anyways- Juleka, used to his antics after spending so long by his side, just nodded, swatting at his hands before speaking again. “Have you heard any soul songs that might work with yours?”

“Not yet.” He answered. The only people he ever talked about Soul Songs to, were her and Ma. It was a weird thing he had. He could hear people’s souls, their wavelengths, their songs. His own song was a melancholic acoustic guitar, not quite sad, but not all too happy either. 

He hadn’t heard any complimentary tunes for himself yet, though it was hard to hear anything in here, but he was having fun listening to the pairs around the room as they mingled. 

The closest match to him featured a lovely little flute melody belonging to a young glasses wearing woman, with dark hair that faded into a fiery red, and bright knowledgeable hazelnut eyes, complimented so perfectly by the soft synth of the meister she was speaking to. His back was to Luka, but the bright red hat on his head was hard to miss.

…

“So you can hear... souls?” Gabriel asked, almost slightly intrigued, though his face didn’t hint to it in the slightest.

“Yeah.” Luka shrugged.

“That still sounds preposterous.” Kagami muttered.

“Can’t hear _you_.“ Luka said, not meeting her irritated and annoyed gaze. “Anyways-“

...

He’d been listening closely to those around him in the hopes of finding a melody that would work with Juleka’s. 

This was Luka’s second year attending the DUPONT mixer, as last year he didn’t have any luck- because while a single meister could attend the academy without a partner, there was apparently a rule that barred single weapons. He couldn’t imagine why, he could do anything a meister could. Ma had drilled that little line into their heads for years, though what would you expect from having a Death Scythe as a mom?

Luka wasn’t determined to find a partner for himself, it was Juleka that he was worried about. She’d been so worried for him when he came home with the news last year, and he knew she was expecting the same thing to happen to her. Anxious little bean. 

So far, his little quest was proving fruitless. But there _had_ to be a meister somewhere in that room that would be fit to wield his sister, he could feel it in his heart. The problem was hearing that perfect melody through all this noise in the hall. It had become a serious bust, as the overwhelming clamorous collection of so many unique noises, it sounded like a dying band room. 

“Okay...” He winced. “Maybe we _should_ step out a little...”

Juleka nodded knowingly, and helped pull her brother along by the jacket as he focused on his own, already staggered, breathing- putting his hands over his ears to just... rearrange his head.

Sounds melted away. And he found calm. Just the slow thumping in his heart, and the soft plucking of his soul.

And then. He heard the soft but deep drawl of a cello, reverberating through his skull. The notes were long, drawn out, filled to the brim with a shaking emotion. Of loneliness, of strength. It sent a shiver up his spine and goosebumps up his arms.

Luka’s eyes snapped open. Who was the owner of a song like that?

“Luka? Are you okay?” Juleka’s voice barely was registered by him as he looked around.

“I… I…”

He was shocked out of his daze as Juleka stumbled into him, nearly toppling both of them over. The siblings struggled to stay on their feet, and Juleka was clearly trying to guide them away from something quickly.

“What’s going on?” Luka managed to ask, digging his heels into the ground. Not that he didn’t trust Juleka’s judgement, but he wanted to seek out the owner of that chilling cello soul. “Juleka, what’s wrong?”

His sister tugged on his arm in an attempt to get him going, but Luka held his ground. Juleka sighed, tilting her head to gesture behind them. “Super scary weapon incoming, we gotta move.”

Luka didn’t get a chance to look back before Juleka was pulling him away again. He tried to tug his arm out of her iron grip, and just as she turned to glare at him, they ran into another person.

Stumbling and flopping on the floor was a short petite girl, with soft blonde pixie cut hair and large baby blue eyes. She looked almost out of place from how bright she looked, like a fairy in a graveyard.

Which _was_ pretty appropriate, as the girl was wearing a soft puffy pastel pink skirt that went up her torso like overalls and a white blouse underneath. A little skull buckle held onto one of the straps, and pink stockings went up her knees. She looked like some Fairytale princess.

Then, he heard it. The soft, joyful sound of a Celesta, weaving through the sorrowful sounds of his sister’s electric bass line. It seemed like it shouldn’t mix so well, but they mixed so beautifully! This was it, Luka could tell. They’d found the perfect partner for Juleka!

“Oh, I’m so sorry I didn’t see you there!” The other girl apologized frantically, her hands hovering in front of her like she was debating whether she should help steady the siblings. “I hope I didn’t hurt either of you?”

Juleka didn’t answer, and Luka fought back his grin as her face erupted in a deep blush. Her mouth opened and closed silently, her eyes locked on the meister in front of them. She was clearly having a homosexual crisis, so Luka took charge.

“Oh, no, it’s completely our fault. We weren’t looking where we were going, so sorry.” Luka smiled at the smaller girl, elbowing his sister in an attempt to shock her out of her stupor. “I’ve got some mingling to do, but why don’t you try talking to my sister? She’s scythe looking for a meister, maybe you two will be a good match?”

Juleka sent him a panicked look, but Luka just winked and waved as he spun on his heel and walked off to chase that glorious cello he’d heard. 

He was only a couple of steps into his quest when his eyes met the person he assumed was the ‘super scary weapon’ that Juleka had been so suddenly desperate with fleeing from. And while she didn’t look very out of the ordinary at first, the unnervingly cold look in the girl’s amber eyes did make him stagger for a moment. 

Dressed in a perfectly ironed uniform, with a long tail cost that split down from her stomach to show a dark dress shirt beneath- a red tie, matching her red skirt that hung to about halfway down her black tights, was adorned with a skull pin on the top. 

…

“I resent that statement.” Kagami glared down her nose at Luka, scrunching her nose up in irritation. “I was _not_ acting in a particularly scary manner. It’s not my fault if everyone else’s constitutions are too weak to handle my presence.”

“I don’t blame anyone for running away, frankly.” Marinette grumbled, fidgeting with the bandages that wrapped around her palms and forearms. “You look and act like a murderer.”

Kagami’s head whirled around to glare at the shorter girl, that fire from that morning burning behind them once more. “At least I have more backbone than a child’s plushie.”

Gabriel slammed a fist on the desk in front of him, startling the teens out of the glaring contest they were holding. “Enough with this nonsense! I demand to know why you all failed so horrendously!”

The group was silent for a second, before Kagami cleared her throat. She had a cold mask on her face, but her partners could see the way she had her skirt clenched in her hands, knuckles white.

“...Of course sir,” She said, Luka rose an eyebrow at how quiet her voice had suddenly become. Soft. Prickling with shame. “I apologize for allowing myself to get distracted. I’ll tell you what happened, now.”

…

Kagami didn’t waste any time after the car dropped her off. What point was there in waiting around? She’d have to be pretty stupid to just stand idly by and risk letting a fitting meister slip through her grasp. Mother would not be pleased if she tried to crawl back home without a partner at the end of the day.

She rolled her shoulders back, setting a determined look on her face. She’d approach every meister there if she had to, but she would be leaving with a partnership with the strongest meister present. Anyone less would simply fail to measure up to abilities as a weapon, of course.

She came across her first target almost immediately. The girl was rather short, even compared to Kagami’s rather unfortunate height, and was shaking like a little purse dog. Her colourful braids were held up by a dark bandana, and the meister looked like she was about to tug it over her eyes to hide. Attached to both the bandana and her dark green cardigan were small little pins and trinkets. And her small little slip on shoes had painted paws on them.

She looked up in fright as Kagami approached her, only stopping a breath away from the girl. The weapon looked down her nose at the shaking girl as she ran through the script she had spent weeks carefully sculpting.

“My name is Kagami Tsurugi, youngest of the Tsurugi clan. I am, without a doubt, the greatest weapon of this generation. Do you have what it takes to match my wavelength?” She said, without batting an eye.

The little meister just froze, trembling, and her lower lip started to quiver. She looked like a deer in the headlights about to have a heart attack. Kagami bit back a sigh, and the beginnings of a migraine started to build in her skull. This one was a lost cause. If all the meisters at this school were like this one, Kagami was better off heading home now.

“Nevermind, I’ve clearly gotten my answer. Good day.” Kagami turned on her heel, basking in the familiar feeling of her jacket flaring out behind her. She could practically hear the weak meister fall to her knees behind her, but she paid the girl no mind. Her sneakers smacked against the tile floors as she moved on, continuing to scan the room for the next potential candidate.

Her attention was stolen by a pair making their way to the centre of the room. Both were tall, the boy in casual clothing and the girl in a dark getup that reminded Kagami of the horror movie posters she’d seen in passing as the car drove by the local theatre to her clan’s training hall. Neither looked all that impressive with their dyed hair and informal outfits, but something about them, specifically the boy, piqued Kagami’s interest.

Mind made up, Kagami changed course and started towards the pair. The boy stumbled to a halt all of a sudden, clutching his head, and the girl looked at him in concern before glancing in Kagami’s direction. Her visible eye widened, then she started pulling the boy away.

Kagami huffed out a frustrated puff of air, increasing the force in her step. She wouldn’t let that boy slip from her fingers. There was something about him, and she just had to know what it was.

She got her chance to approach the blue haired boy without that female companion of his, and slowed her aggressive pace slightly. They made eye contact across the room, and something in Kagami’s mind clicked into place. He was special somehow, and she was going to figure out why.

They approached each other, and the world felt like it had slowed around them. When they were just a few feet away, a blond boy who wasn’t quite as tall as the blue haired one stepped up to them, eyes wide as he looked between them. 

Both boys made Kagami feel that same pull, that feeling of things just being right. That couldn’t be right, though. It was very uncommon for a trio to match wavelengths, especially three strangers. This just wasn’t logical at all!

The trio stared at each other silently for a moment, and Kagami began to gather her bearings. Tsurugis never hesitate, the voice of her grandfather whispered in her mind, his voice as hoarse but firm as it was so many years ago on his bed, as his calloused bony hands gripped tightly around hers. It was not a saying, it was a fact, a command, an order.

Kagami strengthened her resolve, and just as she was about to run through her perfect script again, just then, another girl was practically _launched_ into the group. She landed on the ground at their feet, sprawled out like spilled juice. 

With soft dark raven hair tied in two equally adorable skull pin clipped pigtails that seemed like only she could pull off, was a young girl. Tagged to her carefully embroidered pink jacket, with swirling designs of flower blossoms and vines, was a ‘miester’ tag.

Her dark shirt was also adorned with the designs of apple blossoms and lotuses, traveling across her chest and torso like a sprouting tree. She wore overalls that turned into a simple skirt that reached her knees, along with a Skull buckled belt, and knee high stocking.

Both boys rushed forward to help the girl on the ground to her feet, but froze up when she looked up to meet their eyes. Kagami couldn’t fight off the little gasp that burst from her chest as her eyes met bright blue. There it was again, that little click in the back of Kagami’s mind. 

None of them moved an inch, and it felt like time had stopped around their little group. How could it be possible that Kagami’s wavelength could match all four of these strangers? She’d heard of trios of meisters and weapons, but never a group of four clicking like this. 

“Woah.” The blue haired boy broke the silence, dropping down to sit on the ground roughly. He leaned back on his hands, scanning their little group with wide eyes. “Are any of you feeling this?”

Blond boy nodded his head fervently. “Yeah, it’s like my soul us all warm and fuzzy! Like, I can’t even describe it, but it feels full, and, what’s that word…”

“Complete?” The girl on the ground suggested, shifting so she was sitting up on her knees. Blond boy nodded again, and all three turned to Kagami with expectant looks on their faces.

Kagami cleared her throat, and found that no matter how much she wanted to look away from the other three, she just couldn’t gather the will to. “Yes, I feel that as well. However, what that implies is simply preposterous! You cannot seriously believe that all four of us could successfully resonate together.”

“Who says we can’t?” Blue boy perked up, interest bleeding into his expression. “We’ve got two meisters and two weapons, logically that works out just fine.”

He wasn’t wrong. While he was a weapon like Kagami, the other two members of their strange group were wearing meister tags on their shirts. If Kagami ignored the logical issues with the current situation, it did seem to align perfectly. No, what was she thinking? This was insane, you couldn’t have a group of four!

“How about we get a second opinion?” The blond meister piped up, an awkward smile on his face. He pointed towards a pair of older teens standing by the entrance to one of the actual halls of the school. 

The taller of the two, had messy black hair that nearly obstructed his bright green eyes, and looked to be dressed in a giant, sleeveless, black leather trench coat that flared out around his sturdy, studded boots. Black fishnets going across any skin that was exposed, specifically his exposed, scarred stomach that was shown for all to see thanks to his neon green crop top. 

Many buckles and belts were laced around his arms and legs, and a studded belt with the large word: PLAGG was hung at the front, adorned with many skull signs as well. There were many neon yellow and green highlights going across his clothing. It was... very... well... trash. It looked like trash.

The shorter of the two had bright curly red hair, far more vibrant and red than Kagami has seen on a human before, and wide, kind blue eyes- so bright, they almost looked... iridescent.

She wore a light red shawl, almost making her look like some red riding hood warrior. Her blouse was black, as was her red stitching covered corset, and her red spotted pants puffed out at her knee high boots. The back of her shawl had an almost beetle like design. 

“Those are some of the upper year students, probably top of their class, or close to it at least. They’d probably be able to help us.” The blond meister explained, his voice growing more confident as he spoke. Though his sparkling emerald eyes seemed to still twinkle a bit with nervousness.

The blue haired weapon shrugged, standing up gracefully, all in one movement. His soft azure eyes peering into her’s for a moment, making her shift with slight discomfort from how calm he looked.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” He smiled, moving on as quickly as he laid his eyes on her. Kagami’s eyebrow twitched. _I don’t like him,_ she decided.

The boys helped the meister girl to her feet, and Kagami tagged along with them without any argument. She’d been raised with a respect for those older and more experienced than her, so she would trust the judgement of these upper year students. They’d no doubt take her side, because no rational person would accept the idea of a group of four succeeding.

They approached the older pair, who watched them approach silently. The girl in red smiled brightly at them while the boy grinned at them with a wide, mischievous, Cheshire cat smile. The look in his eyes unnerved Kagami to her core, but that feeling was soothed by the warmth his partner gave off. It was almost like their souls were leaking out of their beings, too potent to be contained.

The girl spoke first, her voice as high and clear as a bell. “Hey there! My name’s Tikki, and this stinky sock beside me is my partner, Plagg. Is there something you need help with?”

Hold on a second, Kagami thought. She tilted her head to meet Plagg’s gaze. 

“You’re—“ Kagami started.

“Are you wearing a belt with your name on it?” Kagami blinked with surprise as she found herself interrupted, glancing to the side to see the meister girl staring at the black haired upperclassmen.

Her eyes suddenly intensely burned with a fire that definitely didn’t exist five minutes ago. “That has got to be the tackiest thing I have ever seen. And those buckles on your coat are not doing you justice, they’re just highlighting how thin you are! Are you trying to look like an edgy Matrix twink?”

“I-” Plagg started, his expression dropping in an instant. He looked like she had just kicked him in the shin while simultaneously telling him she killed his family. His partner burst out into boisterous laughter beside him, and he recovered enough to glare at her.

“Oh, and don’t even get me started on those boots!” Oh, this girl was going to stomp on Plagg’s whole outfit. Kagami couldn’t bring herself to blame the meister, it was one of the worst looks she’d ever seen a person wear. Especially with such genuine confidence. “And the fishnets, seriously, who do you think you are?!”

…

“While I agree with the sentiment that the boy has no sense of fashion— please get back to the subject at hand.” Gabriel said.

Kagami cleared her throat lowly, trying to hide her smile. Marinette raised her hand shyly, shrinking a little as Gabriel fixed his cold eyes on her. “I can take over from here, sir.”

“Go ahead.” Gabriel nodded.

…

Marinette was lightly panting as she finished her rant, sweat rolling down her red cheeks. Tikki was wheezing by that point, hands braced on her knees as tears of laughter spilled down her face. Plagg, on the other hand, looked like his soul had left his body to rot in the school foyer. 

It took her a second for her mind to return to a sane place. When it did, the mortification sunk in.

Oh no, she’d just spent the last five minutes insulting one of the top students at the school was trying to enroll in! He could very well turn around and tell the headmaster to deny her from attending DUPONT, and then where would she be? Back home, spending the rest of her days helping her retired parents in the family bakery. Not even that! She’d probably be six feet under once Tikki stopped laughing, and then, and then-

Tikki finally got her breathing under control, wiping the tears from her face. “I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time, thank you.”

Wait, she wasn’t mad? But, but Marinette had just obliterated her partner’s outfit choices! What was going on?

“Okay, are we done vibe checking me?” Plagg grumbled, glaring playfully at his partner. Was Marinette dreaming? Because this felt like a nightmare to her. Maybe someone had slipped something into her breakfast and she was having some bad hallucinations? Anything made more sense than this being real.

“Yeah, yeah, we’re done.” Tikki straightened up, turning back to the four new students standing in front of her. “Tell me, Miss. What are you and your friends’ names?” 

What were their names? It was only then that Marinette realized she didn't even know the names of the people she had been so drawn to. The others must have come to the same conclusion, because they were all staring at each other awkwardly.

Plagg blinked, squinting at them. “Wait, you don’t even know each other’s names yet?”

Marinette was too ashamed to answer. She’d been so caught up in the feelings of the moment that she forgot basic human decency! If her parents caught wind of this, they’d be so disappointed in her. To them, being kind to others was the baseline of acceptable behaviour.

“Don’t just stand there, then!” Plagg groaned, gesturing at them wildly with his hands. “Get introducing! We don’t have all day for you four to just stand there.”

“My apologies, Plagg.” The female weapon bowed her head to the upperclassman, then turned back to face the other three new students. “My name is Kagami Tsurugi, the youngest member of the Tsurugi clan and I—“

“Cool. First name. Last name. You’re done. Next!” Plagg interrupted, snapping his fingers in a ‘get on with it’ gesture.

Kagami’s jaw dropped for a moment and whatever stoic expression she held was replaced by genuine shock.

“I-“

“I SAID _NEXT_!” Plagg hissed.

Marinette squeaked, glancing a little bit back at Kagami. _Kagami Tsurugi... the Tsurugi Clan... mom told me about them! And to think we could be partners..._

“Right, well uh..” Marinette looked to the right to see the dark haired boy speak. He seemed to carry himself with an aura of quiet melancholy. His eyes soft and gentle as he brushed a hand through his dyed locks “I’m Luka. Luka Couffaine.”

Plagg nodded, clearly pleased that Luka followed his instructions. He looked between Marinette and the blond meister, one eyebrow raised as if to encourage one of them to go next. Marinette was determined to go next, lest she end up last. “I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

“Good! She knows how to not ramble her brain out!” Plagg remarked. However, a spark of recognition appeared in Tikki’s eyes.

“Dupain-Cheng, you say...” The older girl looked thoughtful as she rubbed at her chin, eyes scanning Marinette for something. “I see. Of course. And you, young man? What is your name?” Tikki asked, turning to the last teenager, though her gaze still lingered on Marinette for a few moments longer than normal.

_Does she know who I am?_ Marinette wondered.

“Oh, of course...” The blonde boy said, nervously adjusting his skull pin tie, his emerald eyes heavy with nervousness, before looking at them. “My name… is Adrien Agreste.” He spoke. “My father runs this School.”

A long silence was suddenly dropped on them.

“What?”

…

That tidbit itself had been enough for Tikki and Plagg to immediately get serious and begin to direct the crew. Much to Kagami’s not very hidden displeasure, the quartet was sent on their way to their first mission.

Italy. Rome, Italy.

A supposedly ‘easy’ mission, that Tikki promised wouldn’t take long, just to kill time so they could ‘talk to the man behind the office doors’ about how his son was an anomaly.

“What’s our objective?” Kagami asked, her reflection casting across the blade of her daitan form. Marinette gripped the weapon tightly in her hand, testing her grip on it. 

Something felt both off and right about this, her heart felt like it was beating alongside multiple, but the sinking feeling of worry in her chest was heavy and cold.

_Do I deserve to be holding her? To be sitting with him? To be talking to them?_

Marinette thought to how they assigned the weapons a few hours before. She was given Kagami because of convenience, because of her father. And even then, just because her dad _was_ one didn't Marinette had any idea on how to wield a weapon with multiple forms!

Meanwhile Adrien was given Luka, because he wasn’t just an actually talented meister, no, he was a prodigy. Her grip tightened. _What am I gonna do..._ she wondered.

“Formation of a Gollum down in la Piazza Venezia, they said it has the potential to grow into something concerning, but last time anyone checked, they said it was barely the size of a trash can.” Adrien said as he closed his phone, before he smiled. “Should be a piece of cake.”

“Piece of cake, right.” Marinette mumbled as she followed the other meister. They were walking through the semi-crowded streets, Luka directing Adrien through the streets. The scythe was the only one of their little group that had ever been to Rome before, and trusting his directions was less work than trying to communicate with the locals.

The street lights started to flicker on around them, as the now sunset amber sky darkened, and Marinette tightened her grip on the weapon in her hand. She wasn’t afraid of the dark, but she was afraid of what was coming next. She couldn’t admit that to any of her teammates, though. She’d be cast as the weak link immediately. They might even request that she be removed from their group!

“One more right turn, and you’ll be able to see it.” Luka’s voice echoed out from the scythe Adrien was now carrying. Marinette caught his eyes in the blade, and the boy smiled back at her calmly. “They said this would be an in-and-out job, so there’s nothing to be worried about.” He added.

Was he calling her out, right there in front of the others? “I’m not worried about the mission.” She started.

“Well, good.” Kagami said, flashing across her own blade, amber eyes narrowed in thought as Marinette looked down at her. “You shouldn’t be worried. That would drag us behind on this mission. We must not fail.”

“R-Right.” Marinette nodded, the lump in her throat only increasing as her hands grew clammy and cold. She really hoped Kagami couldn’t feel how sweaty her palms were. 

They turned the last corner, and the sight of the plaza nearly stole Marinette’s breath away. If she was visiting under normal circumstances she’d want to whip out her phone and take picture after picture of the glorious sight. The statues atop the rather brilliant architecture, the disconnect between the newer buildings and the old, it was just so beautiful! 

Adrien pulled out his phone again, angling the screen so Marinette could read the time. “Looks like we’re right on schedule! It’ll be dark in a minute or two, which is probably when that Gollum will make its appearance.”

“I say we wait somewhere up those steps.” A single jacket-clad arm emerged from the scythe, pointing to the spot Luka was referring to. “We’ll be able to see the whole plaza from up there. Easier to spot the enemy, right?”

That made sense to Marinette. The number of people milling around the plaza was dwindling by the second as they made their way over, making it easier to navigate. Even if the crowd was larger, it would be hard to lose Adrien and Luka. A blond boy in a full suit carrying a large dark azure scythe through the streets of Rome probably wasn’t a common sight.

They waited in awkward silence as the sun disappeared behind the Rome skyline. Well, it was mostly silent. Luka had been humming lowly, his voice carrying a little tune that seemed familiar to Marinette, somehow...

…

“Oh, that was the song of your soul.” Luka interrupted, returning all his chair legs to the floor once more. He started humming the tune again, filling the office with his voice. “It’s rather nice. Simple in a way, but it’s got some great potential for complementary harmonies.”

Marinette understood _very_ little of what he said, but she was pretty sure it was a compliment. “Thank you?”

“Ahem.” Gabriel pressed. _Right_ , Marinette was recounting their mission.

...

Ten minutes had passed since the darkness settled over Rome, yet the Gollum was nowhere to be found. Marinette was growing more restless as the minutes added up, and she was fighting the urge to start tapping her foot to expel some of her nervous energy.

She wasn’t the only one getting sick of waiting. Luka had taken to sticking random limbs out of his weapon form, and had even managed to egg Adrien into a few rounds of rock paper scissors. Kagami had remained still and silent the whole time, her eyes trained on the plaza. Marinette had spent a whole minute staring at the image of the girl in the blade of the sword, just to be sure she was actually blinking.

“Ugh, where is this thing?” Luka groaned, clearly irritated. 

“It could be worse, I’ve heard certain meisters will wait for hours for just a single target.” Adrien said.

“Assassins.” Kagami corrected, speaking for the first time in ten minutes, shocking Marinette a little. “They’re assassins, Adrien.”

The blond meister snapped his fingers, smiling at the girl in the daitan sword. “Yeah, thanks Kagami! You’re so smart!” He smiled. Marinette swore she saw a small smile go across Kagami’s face.

That’s when Marinette heard it; heavy, thundering footfalls across the stone pavement nearby. The two meisters stood up hastily, hearts already pounding in their chests.

“You said it was... supposed to be small, right?” Marinette’s voiced cracked up at the end, sweat rolling down her forehead already.

“That’s what she said.” Luka whispered, though his attempt at amusement was a failure, as even his soft, calm voice was filtered with a lace of fear.

“Brace yourselves.” Kagami bit out, as Marinette gripped tightly to the blade’s handle. The meister swore she could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up suddenly, though she couldn’t tell if it was from fright or static.

Adrien led the way as they carefully made their way closer to the sound, and Marinette’s breath caught in her throat as she got her first glance at the Gollum. 

Spoiler alert, it wasn’t small. The creature was nearly half the size of the Altare della Patria. Hulking at it’s massive size, it’s joints creaked and moaned as it rose from the ground. Eyes glowing an empty hazy yellow, the horrible stench of both grime and what reminded her of sewage went to her nose. But no, that was not it.

Marinette staggered with fear as they saw what was in it’s gigantic hand, screaming, thrashing, and wailing at an unearthly level that made her chest twist. The poor man in the kishin egg’s grasp flailed fruitlessly.

Bloodshot eyes bulging with pain as their face became blue from the crushing and suffocating hold. The horrifying sounds of popping bones and snapping muscles started to get louder and louder, as did the screams, and then—

Suddenly an arm flew out of Adrien’s scythe, and the world went black as Luka threw his hand in front of her eyes- and a horrible squelching and crushing sound echoed through her ears, and the screaming stopped. 

The new smell of blood, rot, and gore brought the taste of bile to reach her mouth. Luka’s hand hesitantly fell, and a wave of goosebumps went up her arms, as she saw the barely recognizable gush of a man slap against the floor like melted ice cream, or spaghetti that had sat outside for far too long in the scalding, burning sun.

And the stench. Oh god. The _stench_. It just kept getting worse and worse by the second, her eyes stung with tears as she watched the corpse shimmer with light, before a soft azure soul lifted itself out of the mess of it’s annihilated body.

Adrien sucked in an uneasy breath, as Luka returned fully inside his scythe form, and the blonde gripped tightly onto it for support. The kishin egg’s stone face split open, revealing its inky black mouth, before snapping on top of the soul, swallowing it whole.

“That was the sound of an innocent life being taken away by an inhuman beast.” Kagami said, sounding not even a little bit phased. “If you don’t want that to hear that again…” she trailed off. “...then I suggest you make a move.”

_Right_ . Marinette brushed away her tears as she positioned herself into a readying stance. _This is what we’re here for._

“Show time...” Luka murmured, as Adrien gripped tightly to him. “How about we try sneaking up on it? That’ll give us an advantage.”

Marinette nodded, steeling her nerves. She crept behind Adrien as they slowly approached the monster, footsteps as silent as possible on the stone. The pounding in her heart distracting her from the small crackles of light coming off of Kagami’s almost glowing blade.

This was it, her chance to prove that she could be a valuable teammate! She’d prove that she could measure up to the legacy of her parents, and that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was just as great as- 

Suddenly, Marinette’s muscles tensed up as a shock of electricity entered her body from where her palms met Kagami’s handle. Her muscles suddenly tensed with shock as the shocking and instantaneous feeling of pain shot through her, snapping through her insides almost like a tight, scalding rubber band, and caused her to yelp with pain, as bolts of electricity crackled off of Kagami and across her slightly burning skin.

“ _Dagh_!” She screamed, before immediately clamping a hand over her mouth. Still wincing in pain as she stared down at her red, shaking hands, the faint marks of smoking skin, traveling up her forearm like growing horrific roots. _W-What was—_

“Marinette!”

Her head jerked up as suddenly she found herself alone, Kagami still in her stinging, smoking palms- as the kishin egg spun around her and slammed it’s hand where she stood, Marinette barely dodging out of the way as she rolled across the cracked cement.

Kagami gleamed across the blade. “Why’d you scream? We were so close, you fool!”

Marinette grimaced at her, showing the girl in the weapon her raw burnt hands. “This, you jerk! What did you do to me?”

Kagami’s eyes widened for a moment. “I…”

“Marinette!” Adrien shouted. She spun around, yelling as she slammed Kagami’s blade against the fast approaching palm. The ground cracked beneath her feet as the crushing weight of the giant stone monster pressed her deeper and deeper into the cement. Threatening to snap her already aching and burning knees and her entire body with it.

She let out a yelp of pain as one of her knees gave in, resulting in her kneeling as the hand continued to crush her into the cement.

“Marinette!” Kagami cried, voice filled with worry.

Marinette’s eyes squeezed shut. _Barely five minutes in, and I’m done for... how could I let this happen?!_ She wondered as her trembling arms started to give in.

In a sudden burst of light, Marinette’s eyes snapped open as she saw the kishin egg’s hand cleaved in half. She was not expecting only Luka to land next to her, his arm in scythe form, as he yanked her by the sleeve out of the way.

The three ran to where Adrien was anxiously waiting, Marinette chanced a glance backwards, watching in horror as the same black void from inside the kishin’s mouth extended out of it’s shattered rock and reformed with the broken pieces.

Skidding to a stop, Marinette let go of Kagami to assess the damages of her still burning arms. The weapon in question stared down at her, back in human form, along with Luka and Adrien.

Kagami gingerly placed Marinette’s hands in hers, the blue haired girl winced as Kagami pulled out a small vial of what looked like ointment from her pocket and began to carefully rub it across her red palms.

“What was that?” Adrien asked, his voice soft with worry.

“I apologize. I did not explain fully the extent to my powers.” Kagami said, her eyes narrowing softly with a sense of shame as her hands lingered on Marinette’s before she faced the others.

“As I’ve said: I am a weapon with three forms. However, there is a catch.” She said. “Each weapon form represents one of the three elemental dragons that gave my clan the ability to use these forms, and they are gifted with said elements. For example, daitan form is that of the Lightning dragon, which means when I’m in that form, I can store and expel large amounts of electricity.”

Marinette winced. “I can see that.”

A loud crash followed by a horrible roar was heard, and Kagami nodded to herself. “I’ll explain the rest later, we must move.”

Marinette shakily got to her feet, using Kagami’s offered arm for extra leverage. They wouldn’t be able to escape that thing on foot, she realized, and the others must have too. They looked around the plaza for anything they could use to escape, and Marinette’s feeling of dread grew the longer they stood idle.

“There!” Luka’s upper body replaced the blade of the scythe, causing Adrien to nearly face plant on the stone. Marinette followed the weapon’s finger, finding a sleek, black moped parked beside a lamp post. “We can use that to get away, I’ve driven one before.”

“We’re retreating?!” Kagami objected.

“You can drive?” Adrien wheezed out, finally fixing his footing, sweat rolling down his cheeks.

Luka ignored Adrien, and looked at Kagami as he pointed behind them, where the sounds of the kishin egg were drawing closer. “If you want to stay and fight that thing, by all means, go ahead. I know a death wish when I see one, and I’m all out of them.”

Kagami made a face, but she didn’t object again.

All in agreement, the group made a mad dash for the moped, only stopping as they hovered over it, realizing their new conundrum.

“How are we gonna fit on this thing?” Marinette spoke the question they were all thinking. Now it wasn’t small by all meanings, it was a decently sized moped. But they were four teenagers, and it was clearly built to hold two people.

Luka clapped his hands, still half-human, half-weapon. “I stay like this so I can steer and not take up room, Adrien holds me, and Kagami transforms back so Marinette can hold her. Problem solved!”

“Promise not to shock me this time?” Marinette joked half heartedly, offering a hand to the weapon girl.

Kagami placed one hand over her heart, head lowered in shame. “I promise that I will never bring you harm again.”

“As touching as that is, we gotta go!” Adrien squeaked out, voice high with panic. Right, they were being chased. Kagami took Marinette’s hand, and she was once more holding her partner in sword form.

She climbed on the moped behind Adrien, glancing over his shoulder to watch Luka mess with the moped. They clearly didn’t have any keys for it, so she watched in awe as he turned one of his fingers into a tiny blade and messed with the ignition until it turned, the engine roaring to life.

…

“So you’re admitting to stealing a moped as well?” Gabriel looked like he’d had enough of the story, and they weren’t even done yet. “Do you understand how much work this school is going to have to do to cover for that?”

Luka tilted his chair back, shrugging like he hadn’t a problem in the world. “It’s just a moped. If they want it back so badly, they can fish it out of the river. If it’s really that great, it’ll still work.”

Gabriel groaned, squeezing his eyes as his hands massaged at his temples. “Please, just get this over with.”

“It would be my pleasure, sir.” Luka mock-saluted him.

…

Once he got the moped working, Luka grinned as he felt the familiar rumble of an engine under his hands. Oh, how he’d missed this feeling. He revved the engine once, before taking off through the streets of Rome.

His partners all let out a little shout as they burst forward, the tires squealing as the bike swerved a bit against the stone road. Luka cast a glance at the kishin egg, judging the best plan of action. He remembered the route Ma had taken him and Juleka on during their trip, passing all the sites she’d fought at.

Making his decision, Luka turned so that they were headed right for the monster, and at the last second, he jerked the steering to the opposite side, pulling hard on the break. The moped drifted around the kishin egg, narrowly dodging the swing of its massive arm. Once they were clear, he yanked the steering the other way, aligning them with the street he remembered clearly.

He went full throttle once more, but he did so too early, sending the back end of the moped swinging out farther than he intended.

Marinette was nearly thrown from the bike, but she just barely held on by gripping onto Adrien’s suit. The same could not be said for the weapon in her hand. Luka watched as Kagami’s form was suddenly flung out of Marinette’s hand and he instinctively reached out, grabbing the hilt of the sword.

In a sudden flash of light, he was met with Kagami’s wide and almost offended looking eyes as she snapped into human form, which only made his arm tense and stretch more as the new weight made the entire moped lurch to the side.

Marinette squealed in fear in the back and Luka grimaced, Kagami was practically running beside the unstable vehicle before he yanked her on, course correcting the moped quickly as his heart rushed through his chest, only to get his ear yanked on by the Japanese girl, who was showing more emotion now than she had the entire day.

“What were you doing?!” She squawked. “Weapons can’t wield weapons! That’s, that’s-“

...

“No, I was not _squawking_ like a _fool!_ I was _appalled_! Rightfully!”

...

Sure, _sure_ . She was perfectly and utterly composed. Of course. Luka totally didn’t yank her backwards onto the moped because she was flailing around like a weird crazy worm who was almost about to fall about and he was definitely not _saving_ her.

“Your tune’s all out of whack, calm down will you?” Luka snapped, his grip tightening on the moped’s leather handles while she clumsily still held onto him. The monster let out a deafening roar as they all cringed. 

Luka glanced around for one of the street signs, and quickly made the decision to head for the Tiber River. If he could get across the bridge there, then maybe that would give them a chance to lose the target.

He made a sharp left turn, all three of his partners screaming behind him as they nearly flew off the moped. Luka grit his teeth as the moped straightened out again, and he urged it to speed up. The bridge was in sight now, but it was still so far away. He cursed internally as the Kishin egg rounded the corner behind them, clambering over the cars lining the street to get to them. 

There had to be some way to get their speed up, anything. Luka wracked his mind as quickly as he could, before he remembered something. “Wait, Kagami, what other elemental forms do you have?!”

“Water and wind, why do you ask?” She shouted back. Okay, so she didn’t have fire like he hoped, but he could work with this. 

“Can you go into wind form and give us a speed boost? Or at least slow that thing down?” Luka chanced a glance back at her, and watched as the other weapon nodded hastily. She extended a hand to Marinette, who at first looked apprehensive of losing her death grip on Adrien’s torso, but after a second, she shakily reached out and took Kagami’s hand.

Kagami disappeared, and in a flash Marinette was holding onto a dark, polished kusari gama. The blade was nearly solid black with a white swirl just above the hilt. The hilt itself was crosshatched black and red, and a dark, metal chain extended from the end, stopping after about two feet at a large chunk of metal shaped like a dragon’s skull.

Kagami appeared in the blade, her calm demeanour back once more. “Marinette, you need to swing me around in a circle in the direction you wish to expel the air. Understand?”  
  


“Y-yeah, yeah, I can manage that.” The meister took a deep breath, then turned as much as she could without falling off the moped. She started with slow, sloppy circles, but the more she spun Kagami the more confident her movements became. 

Once she really got spinning, Luka could notice the difference, watching as the soft expression of worry melted into a burning determination as her focus left Kagami and back to the chasing monster and began to spin even faster. The moped started to speed up, so he had to return his eyes to the street in front of him. This was just what he needed!

However, as the wind’s howling grew louder and louder, the moped kept gaining speed as well. Luka was struggling to keep the machine steady already, and the buildings around them were whipping past them quicker by the second. “You can slow down now!”

“What?” Marinette called back, still swinging Kagami around. The wind roared in their ears, and Luka barely heard her.

“I said, you can slow down now!” He called louder this time, the back of his throat burning as the wind rushed by. He turned his head to shout again, not noticing that his arms had moved with him. “Slow down!”

“ _What_?” Marinette called back even louder.

“I _said_ -” Luka didn’t get to finish his sentence, as suddenly Adrien shrieked in horror. Then, just as Luka turned back to look again, they were air born.  
  


All four started screaming as the moped shot off the side of the road, soaring over the Tiber river below. Luka, Kagami, Adrien, and Marinette felt their lives flash before their eyes— as they were then swallowed into the water.

…

“Annnnd that pretty much brings us to now.” Luka said primly, leaning back in his chair as the others nodded.

Gabriel Agreste sat silently for a moment, taking in their story. Then, the man let out a sigh that stank of disappointment. Though his secretary seemed at least a little amused, as she suppressed a snort.

He stood up from his chair to look down at them, his cold eyes glaring at each one of them.

“I’m disappointed in all four of you. You were assigned to a mission and you failed. We had to send your seniors to clean up the bigger mess you’ve created, and you have failed to prove to me that you are anything but a problem.” Gabriel spat, glancing at Kagami and Marinette he scowled. “...What would your parents think?”

Kagami winced, her knuckles turning white as she dug her nails deeper into her skirt, her face twisted with shame, and Marinette looked like she was about to cry.

Luka glanced at them, his eyes narrowing at Gabriel for a moment but he couldn’t find himself to speak. Adrien, however, could.

“Father, we were assigned to something we assumed was an easy mission. We weren’t ready for what we faced! Marinette almost died! _We_ almost died.” He shouted, emerald eyes blazing with fury. “And—“

“Silence.” Adrien’s voice caught in his throat, as his voice fell to nothing. Gabriel stared at him. “You’re right. You clearly weren’t ready, Adrien. It was a mistake to let you go here.”

Gabriel nodded to himself, facing away from them.

“Nathalie. Cancel Adrien’s enrollment papers right now. He will not be attending this school until he has learnt to not be...” He searched for a word, as he looked back at his son “...unworthy of my trust.”

Adrien felt his heart shatter, and his stomach dropped. He felt sick. He felt cold. And numb... His head hung low as he clutched his knees. _Unworthy... disappointment... Mistake... Father is right... father is always right... I—_

“That’s not fair!”

Adrien’s head jolted up, Gabriel turned around curiously as Marinette slammed her bandaged hands against the desk. Her blue eyes burned with rage.

“You are in no position to say that, even as his father!” Marinette shouted, before scowling. “My mom was right. You are pretty much spineless in your way, should’ve listened to her...”

“She said I’m what?”

“She’s right. You can’t shift all of the punishment on Adrien.” Luka said, putting a hand on the blond’s shoulder, his eyes narrowed. “And if you kick us out for defendin’ him... well… you know who my mother is, don’t you.” He smiled wickedly.

Kagami slowly stood up from her chair, her eyes finally clear, as she stood as strong as a stone pillar.

“Tomoe Tsurugi, Head and Matriarch of the Tsurugi Clan, will not be happy with my expellment as well. And I promise you this, sir. If you are to expel Adrien from his school, he will not be the only student in this group leaving.” Kagami hissed through her teeth.

“Same here.”

“We aren’t continuing without him!”

Adrien felt tears begin to swell in his eyes, “You guys...” he voiced softly, before steeling himself and standing with his partners.

He could feel their hearts beating as one.

“I’m not leaving father.” He said, his fist clenched tightly by his side. “Not without my partners, we may not be perfect, but that’s all of our decisions.” He said, before a nervous but devilish smile spread across his lips. “...And I don’t believe their parents will be happy if they’re sent home because a mistake on reconnaissance’s part.”

Gabriel let out a heavy sigh, glancing briefly at the picture on his desk. The one Adrien knew was a picture of himself, his mother, and the man in front of him.

He stared back at Adrien, thinking before nodding.

“I see.” He said, just as emotionless as before, and for a split second, Adrien feared he had not changed his mind. For a long second, he finally spoke again. “Nathalie please, cancel those plans.”

“Of course sir.”

Adrien’s chest swelled with relief as Gabriel calmly sat down in his chair and stared up at him again.

“Adrien.” He started, before remembering to acknowledge the others. “...and the rest of you—“ well we didn’t say he did it nicely “—I will allow you all to... stay. But I can not deny the failure you all have made today. So I only have one choice now...”

…

“Remedial Classes?” Luka echoed, as the group stepped out of the office. Marinette held up the piece of stamped copied paper.

“Could be worse… It says here we’re gonna be taught by Plagg, and a few others occasionally. We’re also not the only ones, so… that’s a relief.” Marinette smiled weakly.

“Yes that’s true, but… it would’ve been better if we never had to go in the first place...” Kagami hummed. “Especially with how Mr Ugly Fashion will be teaching us…”

“I’m surprised you remembered my entire rant.” Marinette chuckled a little shyly, and Kagami just looked away.

“It was... memorable, to say the least.” Kagami said stuffily, kicking at the ground. But the soft smile on her face was not unnoticed.

Adrien nodded a little hollowly, his gaze sunken as a heaviness in his heart weighed down at his knees. Some part of him had wanted to make his father proud today, and that part was weeping like a baby. Meanwhile, the other part wanted to do a good job in memory of his mother, and that was weeping like a baby too.

A firm hand landed on his shoulder, and Adrien looked up to meet Luka’s concerned eyes. “I know this whole situation isn’t ideal, but think about it this way: we can make a big comeback this way. If we put in the work and get out shit together, by the time we graduate we’ll be top of our class! We’ll not only be the legendary group of four, we’ll be the legendary group of four that went from dead last to first place!”

“Yeah, Luka’s right.” Marinette spoke up, her smile a little brighter now. “This is just the universe giving the rest of them a head start to give them a hope of beating us. We got handicapped because our potential is too great!”

Adrien felt a small smile coming back to his face. He glanced at his last teammate, and met Kagami’s eyes as the flames within them reignited, stronger than they’d been since they met. “We’ll show everyone that we have what it takes, no matter what. There is nothing that can stand in our way to victory, not even some silly remedial classes.”

Adrien’s heart swelled in his chest, and he couldn’t fight the happy tears building in his eyes. There was no doubt in him now that he lucked out big time, these three were the greatest partners a meister could ever have. “Oh, you guys!”

He leapt forward, pulling all three into a group hug. He’d put too much force into it, because they were sent sprawling to the ground. Kagami burst into laughter, and soon Luka, Marinette, and Adrien followed. 

What a sight they must be, four teenagers laughing their heads off outside the Headmaster’s office. Adrien found that he didn’t care what anyone who might see them thought. They were going to rise above what everyone thought of them and be the greatest group to ever attend DUPONT!

…

Nathalie looked down at her tablet, reading the scans of the files for the next pair that would be meeting with Headmaster Agreste due to the outcome of their trial mission. Ah, Chloe Bourgeois, that was a familiar name. Nathalie could see her first instance with a new partner going south. That girl could be a real brat sometimes.

She swiped the screen, bringing up the next file. Oh, this one was interesting. Alixandria Kubdel, daughter of one of the country’s most prestige historians and… Nathalie couldn’t make out the letters, the pen’s ink had run in that section of the form. This was why she thought this whole process should have been digitized by now. Scrolls and paper were so... old fashioned.

A few taps later, and she managed to enhance the image enough to read the previously illegible words. Nathalie nearly dropped her tablet as she read the blurb, then reread it to double check. Yes, she’d been correct. But that didn’t- but. Huh. Rereading it again, the words she had read finally began to settle into her mind, processing.

“Well…” She said, taking a long sip of the coffee next to her, she knew she was going to need more soon. “...that’s interesting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming up next:  
> Two rich teenagers commit funny atrocities.
> 
> Stay tuned!


	2. We Ruined Everything - Poor First Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Take two of day one! This time the focus is on a rather, hmm, unconventional duo. At least they didn't crash a moped?

  
  


Kim jogged in place a bit, hyping himself up as his miester Max, who he barely met about ten minutes ago, boredly watched next to him. Just wait! He was gonna show everyone here he was the superior weapon here!

Starting with beating this short stack next to him in a race.

‘Alix’, as she introduced herself as, was accompanied with this tomato haired kid he figured was her miester.

“Alix I don’t think you should do this...” He said worriedly.

“Yeah _Alix_ , maybe you should listen to your friend here.” Kim snorted. “So you don’t embarrass yourself.”

Alix just rolled her eyes, continuing to adjust her green and hot pink shoes, and seemingly muttering to them.

“What’re you doing?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “Talking to your shoes?”

She just smiled and waved him off. “Just a good luck phrase my mom taught me.” 

What a weirdo. Not that Kim could blame her for wanting more luck. She’d need it if she wanted a chance at competing with him!

“Right, so the rules of the race?” Alix looked up to Max. Kim’s miester just rose an eyebrow from underneath his glasses as he oh so bluntly snapped his book shut.

“From here, through the halls, throught the foyer and out to the courtyard gates. Nathaniel and I will meet you there.” Max dryly said, adjusting his glasses. “The first one there will be declared the winner.”

“And the superior weapon!” Kim puffed out his chest. It would be him, of course. There was no way that this sassy little girl could possibly be faster than him!

“Sure.” Alix nodded, a sly smile curling on her lips as she brushed her hot pink hair out of her freckled face as Nathaniel stifled a small giggle. “And the superior weapon.” 

“On your marks—“ Max started, Kim crouched down as Alix leaned back casually on her heels. “Get set—“ Kim licked his lips, steadying himself. “Go!”

Kim launched off the ground, bolting forward through the bustling hallway, shoving people aside and even jumping over a few to get through as quickly as possible without falling over.

He glanced backwards, seeing Alix casually jogging just a few paces behind. The relaxed grin on her face lit a fire of anger in Kim’s gut. Was she pretending to find this easy just to piss him off? If so, it was working. Kim shook his head, focusing back on where he was running. It didn’t matter, not while she was still behind him.

Kim turned into one of the halls lined with doors to classrooms, and thankfully it was devoid of human obstacles. Without anyone in his way, Kim was able to switch into a dead sprint. Normally you’d save something like that for the final stretch, but considering the sheer amount of people milling around in the foyer, that would be impossible. 

  
  
He could hear Alix behind him, still just a few steps behind him. This hall looped back to the grand hall they’d entered it from, which meant there was only so much left to their race. Kim smirked to himself. There was no way she’d be able to catch up to him now!

Just as Kim slowed to enter back into the more crowded hall, Alix shot past him. His jaw dropped as she slithered through the corridor of crowded students at a much higher speed than she was before. Had she been holding back this whole time, just to mess with him?

“SEE YA KIM!” Alix’s voice hollered, already at the end of the hall. How had she already gotten so far ahead?

Kim was in such a state of shock that he’d forgotten where he was. His legs beneath him kept carrying him forward, however he couldn’t make his way through. He found himself surrounded soon enough, trapped in a ring of strangers. Kim spun around, head still feeling not his own, trying to find a way out of the crowd he’d gotten himself lost in.

He couldn’t say how long he was stuck there, though it felt like a second and ten years at the same time. In his disoriented state Kim didn’t notice Max approach him until the little meister spoke. “Where have you been? You never made it to the gate, so I went looking for you. It’s been five minutes since Alix finished.”

Kim startled, the fog in his mind clearing. “Five minutes? That’s impossible. She cheated, she had to have cheated!’

Kim turned to go find the little cheater, but before he knew what was happening, he tripped down the stairs and he slammed into a smaller figure, sending her shooting forwards into a stunned group of three.

…

“Don’t call me a cheater! Get out of here Kim!” Alix barked.

“Fine! Fine!” He rolled his eyes.

“You may leave, Mr. Le Chien.” Gabriel said under his breath as the young man left the office, he turned to the two girls in front of them. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, still exhausted from the previous team he had to talk to thirty minutes ago. “Well?”

Chloe fiddled with her thumbs a little before looking up and flicking her hair. “Yeah yeah.” She sighed, looking up at him. “I’ll talk.”

…

Chloe had done her absolute best to keep up with Sabrina, but her friend easily slipped from her sight, and disappeared into the crowded hall. She always was one who could vanish easily. Whenever they’d go somewhere crowded, Chloe would have to keep one hand on Sabrina at all times, otherwise she’d lose her, just like she did now.

“Hey hey hey hey, where are we going?! Can you stop?!” Alix’s voice finally caught up to her and Chloe stopped running. She’d completely forgotten that she was still holding onto the large double-sided weapon, somehow. 

“Oh, I forgot about you.” Chloe said dryly, looking down at the weapon in her hand, the girl inside’s reflection gleaming across one of the fan-shaped blades with a slightly dead stare. “Don’t look at me like that, I was busy chasing someone!”

She looked around, remembering about Adrien.

“Two someone’s actually...” She murmured. Damn it she lost two of her only friends within the first five minutes! So much for ‘Oh hurr durr time to face the future together!’. How utterly ridiculous.

“If you mean that boy with the suit that looked too big on him? I’m pretty sure he want that way.” Alix answered, pointing to the left of the hall. “But I can’t see him at all with this crowd,”

Chloe huffed, planting the palm axe beside her as it glowed in a softy hazy red light before, Alix reappeared next to her, leaning backwards on her heels and her arms folded behind her. 

Her short and choppy pink locks fluffed out from under her black and green baseball cap, which had the design of a snake on both it’s crown and what she could see, under the bill, where it had a flower and scale pattern. Her cheeks were covered in dark strangely sharp freckles that traveled across her face and down her tanned arms.

Speaking of which, She wore an open sleeveless hoodie jacket, with a white and gold crop top underneath with some kind of Egyptian hiero-whatever design on it. Looked like a spoon with arms. Meanwhile for pants, she wore some tight exercise shorts that reached down to about half her shin with a stripe with a scale design going down the sides, and some plain-jane pink and green sneakers.

Chloe snorted. She hadn’t gotten a good look at the girl before she transformed, but now it was very clear that she was extremely vertically challenged. “Yeah, no wonder you can’t see. Literally everyone else here is taller than you.”

“I dare you to say that to my face.” The girl growled, as her bright blue eyes narrowed up at Chloe. 

Chloe nearly snorted again, but she held herself back. The fact that it had already happened was enough. “Sorry, no thanks. I’ll hurt my back if I bend over that far.”

Neither spoke as they intensely stared at each other. Alix glared up at Chloe while she smiled smugly down at the weapon. For someone with a pretty large weapon form, the girl was absolutely tiny.

“OKAY SO NOT TO CUT THIS SEXUAL TENSION WITH A KNIFE- BUT DEAR GOD WHY ARE YOU BOTH SUCH FAST RUNNERS-“

The two spun around to see, oh, that tomato haired kid. Right.

“Nathaniel!” Alix squawked, shooting one arm out to smack the boy who casually ducked under it, turning to look at Chloe through his locks.

“By the way, I saw some ginger haired looking person over there? I don’t know if they’re your girl, they looked kinda...” Nathaniel pointed a little ways towards one of the stairwells where two upperclassmen looking students stood. “...knowing?”

“Not my girl.” Chloe shook her head.

“But they do look like they know shit. Come on, Princess.” Alix said, moving her way towards the two.

“H-Hey, I have a name!” Chloe scoffed, pushing past a young student with fluffy dark locks and a red jacket covering a tie dye shirt. “Move it Rainbow!”

Nathaniel was left alone, to awkwardly stare at the student.

“...Sup.”

…

Pushing through the bustling crowd of students, she stumbled after the weapon girl towards the two older students.

The girl was wearing a more prim version of the DUPONT uniform with a fluffy turtleneck underneath, shining sapphire eyes, and black streaks going through her long blonde locks. A small comb held her hair in a small bun.

And the other one, most likely who Tomato Hair spotted, had long, orange, almost red, hair; that trailed down their back in a low ponytail before it was bleached into a white. Their dark orange and black blazer covering their standard, but messy DUPONT uniform. They had a mischievous energy to them and Chloe quickly decided she didn’t like them.

“Oh look, freshies.” The orange one smiled, opening one violet eye. “Well, how can we help you kiddos?”

The blonde glared at the person Chloe assumed was her partner, flicking them on the shoulder. “Trixx, play nice. We don’t want to drive them away now, do we?”

“No…” The orange one grumbled, but the mischievous energy still remained. “Well?”

Alix stiffened, realizing how unprepared she was to answer “Right uh-“

Chloe rolled her eyes “We need directions.”

“Ah, are you two a new pair?” The blonde asked. “Well, I’m Pollen, this is Trixx, we’re happy to point you to anything! Are you two looking for a particular place or mission…?”

Oh, a mission sounded great actually. Chloe had always wanted to travel, but she’d spent most of her years training to become as _exceptional_ as a meister as possible. There were so many countries and cities she’d seen in photos, and she wanted a chance to see them all. 

Alix broke Chloe out of her travel-based daze. “What options do you have?”

“There’s a whole slew of smaller kishins within the city. Normally, us older students would’ve swept them out by now, but we’ve left a bunch to test out new pairs.” Pollen explained, flipping through a small notepad she’d pulled from her pocket. “If you’re looking for something more challenging, we’ve got one overseas.”

“We’ll take the overseas one!” Chloe felt the words burst from her mouth. As if she’d accept doing a little baby mission anyways. If her new partner couldn’t keep up, then she was better off without her. 

  
  
Alix raised an eyebrow at her, frowning slightly. “You sure about that, Princess? Are you sure you’re up to a challenge right off the bat?”

Chloe huffed, and her face puffed up in frustration. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m not some second rate meister like the rest of them here. Are _you_ up to it?”

“Of course.” The little weapon grinned.

They turned back to Pollen and Trixx, the latter pumping their eyebrows at their partner suggestively. Pollen ignored them, and striked something off on her notepad. “Alright, looks like you’re going to-”

…

“-Welcome to Egypt, Princess.” Of all the countries to be sent to, it just had to be somewhere hot. Of course. Chloe was obviously the weird one for imagining going to London or Los Angeles or even Athens when Egypt was just the superior choice. _Not_.

  
  
“Such a _warm_ welcome.” She said dryly. It felt like the air was hotter than the centre of the fucking sun.

“Right?” Alix said, a genuine smile spreading across her face, not at all bothered by the overwhelming heat. “It’s amazing here!”

Chloe could not agree with the weapon less. How could anyone stand living here? Like, seriously, Chloe would rather live anywhere else than Egypt. “How can you stand this heat? It’s utterly ridiculous!”

Alix’s eyes were closed as she spread her arms out wide, like she was a plant trying to absorb as much sunlight as physically possible. She looked utterly at peace. “I grew up here. Well, not here, in Alexandria, but in Cairo. Mom named me after the old Library of Alexandria, I think. Visited as a baby, not that I remember much. Damn, I missed this heat.”

Chloe would never have guessed that Alix was Egyptian in a hundred years. She’d honestly just thought the girl was just pretty tanned, if she was being honest. “Never would’ve pegged you as Egyptian.”

“Well Princess, I’m full of surprises.” Alix winked at her, before walking down the bustling street. Chloe fought to keep the heat out of her face as she lightly jogged to catch up to the weapon. Worst case scenario, she could just blame it on the damned heat.

They walked the streets for a good couple of minutes before Chloe decided she’d had enough. “Do you even know where you’re leading us?” 

Alix shrugged casually, taking another seemingly random turn. “I’ve got a general idea. Would you feel safer if I asked someone for directions, your highness?”

“Yes, of course I would.” Who wouldn’t want to avoid getting lost in a city they’ve never been to? What kind of question was that? “And don’t call me that.”

“Whatever you say, _Princess_.” Alix veered off to the side of the street, approaching a man who was leaning against the wall of a shop. He didn’t seem pleased with that she was approaching him, and Chloe was convinced that he’d start shouting at the little weapon any second now. Then she started speaking to the man in a language Chloe was completely unfamiliar with.

Chloe watched in complete shock as the man, who looked like the least approachable man she’d ever seen, quickly perked up and started responding in a pleasant tone. Alix waved to him as she returned to where she left Chloe, standing in silent shock. “I was headed in the right direction. Just so you know.”

Ugh, the little weapon was just so aggravating! If Chloe was any less composed, she would have smacked her _so_ hard by now. She followed Alix as they made their way to the catacomb where their target had set up his little home base.

According to Pollen and Trixx, Tourists had been going missing around the catacomb for weeks, and one of the tour companies had reported one of their guides missing just as the people started disappearing as well. How suspicious.

The catacomb had been closed off to the city so no one would get in their way while they worked. Plus, since the Kishin was camping out underground, they wouldn’t have to wait until nightfall to enter. Chloe prayed there’d be some kind of ancient air conditioning in there.

Her prayers were unfortunately answered, as the second she set foot into the catacomb she felt an ominous, bone chilling gust of wind push against their faces.

“Awesome” Alix giggled, clearly not bothered by the fact that the whole place carried the same energy as a haunted house with a top notch budget. The shorter girl was practically vibrating as her eyes darted over the dark catacomb, almost like she was trying to take in each and every little detail etched into the walls and floors. 

Not that she’d be seeing much, Chloe mused. It was dark as a moonless night in there, and both meister and weapon had neglected to bring a flashlight. Despite all that, Alix was acting like the place was lit up like Christmas tree.

She stepped forward, confident in the placement of her steps whereas Chloe stepped slowly, like the floor would give out beneath her any second now. Sure looked like it was going to, she thought bitterly. 

Alix ran one of her hands over the wall, breath coming out shaky. “I can’t believe this place is in such great shape! Probably why we visited the city all those years ago. Mom would’ve been all over this.”

Chloe nodded along absent mindedly, unable to shake the feeling that she was being watched from within the heavy darkness. The further into the catacomb they walked, the thicker the air felt. It could have been the old, stale air of long ago, or Chloe was just having a hard time keeping her breathing under control as her fear steadily rose.

It was probably a healthy dose of both.

Alix guided them down a sloped hallway, the incline just steep enough to make Chloe wobble a little as she struggled to see through the darkness. “How can you see anything in here? It’s like, pitch black!”

“Guess I’ve got good eyes.” The weapons voice was laced with amusement, and Chloe felt like she was missing the part that made that phrase a joke. “Oh watch—“

Suddenly Chloe heard a small click beneath her foot and her heart virtually stopped for a moment. There were a few beats of soft chittering and buzzing beneath the walls- before Alix yanked Chloe downwards as a large axe from the wall ejected and nearly cut the heiress’s neck clean off.

The two were sent tumbling down the incline, limbs tangling as they tried to get their bodies under control before they reached the bottom and set off deadly trap after trap. They ended up just making the whole thing worse, and after somehow managing to avoid all of them by sheer dumb luck, Chloe landed on her back at the bottom, all the air in her lungs leaving very quickly and without prior notice.

She struggled for air for a moment before remembering how to breath properly, and only then did her mind start to clear. It had been so hard for her to regain her breath because pressing down on her chest was Alix, who didn’t look like she planned on moving anytime soon. “Damn Princess, didn’t know our relationship was changing so quickly.”

Chloe felt the blood rush to her face, and she opened her mouth to tell the weapon off. The only thing that happened was her mouth slamming shut, the only sound she was making being something not unlike the whistle of a kettle, when the smug little weapon fuckin _winked_ at her. Chloe pushed the girl off of her roughly, doing her best to ignore the laughter spilling from her partner’s mouth.

“God, your face looks like a strawberry!” Alix cackled, eyes watering from the force of her laughter. Chloe could barely make out the glint in the awful lighting of the catacomb, but she wished she couldn’t see it at all. “I’m only teasing you, you know? Unless, you’re already _charmed_ by me.”

“I—“ Chloe started, only to squeak with fear as she heard the chattering sound of what she swore were bones echoing through the walls. She blinked, finding herself clinging to Alix’s torso again. Her face dropped with irritation as her ears burned more with embarrassment, she could feel Alix grinning like an idiot. “Not. A word.”

Alix let out another chuff of laughter, having mercy on Chloe and pulling away. Chloe however suddenly felt the uneasy chill of the catacombs take over her again, freezing her in her spot. “Whatever you say, Princess.”

Chloe couldn’t respond, still stuck in her spot. The little weapon sobered up, scooting back into the meister’s space. Her presence at Chloe’s side was warm and comforting, and the spooky chill faded from Chloe’s mind.

“Here-“ Alix intertwined their fingers gently, giving Chloe’s hand a comforting squeeze. “-I guess I’ll just be your knight in shining armor then.”

Hand in hand with Alix as they continued through the narrow and dark corridors, Chloe… trusted her.

…

Gabriel looked up at her, waiting for her to continue. “And…?”

Chloe looked away from Alix, her eyes narrowing as her lips twisted into a bitter scowl. “...and then…”

…

The two entered the main room, the walls gleaming in a golden color and lined with long scripts of hieroglyphics and drawings.

Stretching to the middle of the room, Chloe felt the hand in hers immediately disappear in a low flash of red light and become replaced by the smooth cold leather grip of Alix’s palm axe.

Chloe’s eyes narrowed and she steadied her breathing just like she did in every training session. Of course this wouldn’t be like training. How utterly ridiculous- but she didn’t get down and dirty for no reason.

Her grip adjusted, every few moments, to get used to Alix, trying to get a handle on the weight of the weapon. Both of the blades on either end of the axe were of equal weight, making it relatively easy to put her hands in the most balanced positions.

She was the most exceptional kishin and witch slaying machine, Chloe recited in her head. Just like how her mother would’ve wanted.

At the far end of the room, washed in faint orange light from a few measly torches stood their target. He must’ve been pretty far gone, as most of his features would’ve never passed as human. Crazed red eyes glowed faintly behind a solid gold mask in the shape of a jackal’s head, what looked like ripped clothing of what could sort of be described as once a Tourist Guide uniform, were now worn like some toga. Skin a charcoal black and covered in dried blood and gold markings.

In front of the kishin was an old stone alter, faded hieroglyphics etched into the side. Lying on top of it, squirming in her rope restraints was a woman who appeared to be just like the rest of his victims, a simple tourist. Chloe could hear her faint whimpering from across the room, desperate, pleading for her life. 

The Kishin spread his arms over the altar, his deep, gravely voice booming from within the mask. “For millennia I have been weak, my powers sealed away deep beneath the desert sands. But now that I have been reborn to this flat Earth , I can finally reclaim what was once mine. With this soul before me, I am one step closer to reclaiming my throne at the helm of the universe!”

“I’m going to hurl.” Alix said in the flattest tone Chloe’d ever heard.

“Shut up, it’ll hear you.” Chloe hissed back, glaring at the disgusted face reflected on the blade closest to her face.

“I’m gonna do it. I swear I-“

The weapon was cut off by the wheezing laughter of the kishin. He’d raised his arms above his head, and Chloe noticed the ornate knife held in his two hands.

With a horrific squeal of demented glee, the kishin drove the knife down into his victim. Blood sprayed across his frankly atrocious outift as he swung again and again, practically tearing the poor girl to bits. Chloe closed her eyes, her heart beat smothering the screams as she continued to breathe in, and out.

A faint blue light sprung from the ripped remains of the woman, and the monster finally stopped his savage stabbing. Chloe watched from behind the pillar as the kishin’s mask split open in a horrible squelch, dozens of drool covered teeth splitting unevenly out of it’s lips and gums as it reached out towards the trembling soul and swallowed it whole.

“I can feel it, the power returning.” It laughed lowly, clenching its fists as the mask came together once more. “Yes, surely I’ve gained the powers of death, belonging to Horus!”

  
  
“Okay, that’s it, lemme at it.” Alix’s voice pepped up again, sounding more desperate as the weapon was practically vibrating in her hands with visceral rage. “Please, the historian inside of me is absolutely dying! Please, _please_ Chloe, I need to murder him. Right now.”

Alix began muttering angrily, hissing under her breath. What was with this girl? She’d been all casual and content right up until the moment they entered this damn room. What kind of partnership had Chloe gotten herself into?

She peered out from behind the pillar, eyes following the target’s motions as he clambered around the room, tidying up the little mess he’d created. This was no doubt the strangest kishin Chloe had ever seen. The palm axe in her hands started to shake, and Chloe tightened her grip to get the stupid weapon to take a damn chill pill.

Finally, it turned its back to the pair, and Chloe bent her knees so she was in the perfect position to dash across the room. One swing would be all it took, Chloe assured herself. Shaking off the weird chill going up from her ankles and up her space, she gave one last glance at the practically seething weapon who’d taken to muttering lowly, and Chloe took off.

She started spinning the double axe beside her as she ran, eyes burning intensely as she blasted across the ground, sprinting at a faster speed than she had ever before. _What the-_

She ignored it, spinning around and leaping towards the target, swinging one of the curved palm blades right for the gut of the Kishin. However, right as the blade was about to connect with its target, one of its hands shot out and grabbed the blade right by it’s palm- causing Chloe to quite literally hang in the air in shock.

The Kishin snarled. “Who dares defy me, The Pharaoh?!” 

“More like The Phoney! You stupid fuck!” Alix’s voice blasted from within the axe, the whole weapon shaking once more. Chloe did her best to hold tight as the kishin let out a chuff of annoyance and, grabbing his hand higher onto the weapon, flung them across the room.

Chloe scraped against the ground, flicking her hair out of her face. _What a pain in the ass this is shaping up to be_ , she thought bitterly. Was there any possible way this mission could get any worse?

  
  
Absolutely.

“Okay, so a simple speed boost wasn’t enough, huh?” One end of the axe transformed back into the shorter girl’s torso.

“What the hell are you going on about?” Chloe asked, squeaking as suddenly the Kishin’s arms stretched out like two rubbery whips and began to slap around everywhere. She grimaced as a cloud of dust and rubble blew past them as the demon let out a roar of anger.

Alix made no move to answer her, and held her hands over the other end of her axe form. Chloe’s eyes widened as she watched the girl mumble again, but now, in a more clear voice.

“Snake snake, boa boom!” Alix hissed, extending an arm out as a tendril of thin red light slithered out from her hand, slipping right through the end of the axe.

Chloe had no idea she’d feel so cold in Egypt as she stared at the girl in front of her- no- not a girl. 

Those eyes were too thin. Those freckles, no, _scales_. Those were definitely the designs of scales. Traveling over her inhuman cheeks and arms that she thought held the blood of something familiar. How was this fucking possible? No. There would be no way this could happen!

“You’re...”

Alix stared up at her with a slit eyed smile, her fangs gleaming in the dark as her cursed magic flowed through her veins. Eyes a soft glow.

“...a witch.”

...

“...Half-witch.” Alix corrected quietly, not looking anywhere remotely near Chloe as she spoke. “I’m only half witch.”

Chloe scoffed, trying to scoot her chair farther from the witch beside her. “As if that makes any difference.”

“It does!”

“Silence, you two.” Gabriel said, his voice cold and clear as he stared at the weapon and miester. Nathalie awkwardly typed at her laptop in the back as the man tapped his fingers carefully on the dark table. “Mrs. Bourgeois I hope you are aware of what this school is.”

“Of course I do.” Chloe said quickly, raising an eyebrow “This is an elite academia that trains only the best meisters and weapons to reap and slay monsters like he-“

“We are _not_ monsters!” Alix shouted, banging her fists on the table. 

“That is enough!” Both teens quieted instantly, shrinking in their seats at Gabriel’s outburst. “Just finish your excuse for why the Ancient Catacombs have been demolished to pieces!”

The two cringed and Alix inhaled deeply, scratching at her cheek awkwardly. Her scale like markings littered across her face returned to looking just like freckles again.

“Right, sure- will do.”

…

The second the words left Chloe’s mouth, things fell to shit. For starters, the meister immediately dropped Alix, scooting back across the floor like Alix was harboring some deadly disease. Immediately her heart sank. Of all the times and places for this kind of thing to happen it had to be here and now, didn’t it?

Alix didn’t have the opportunity to spend long thinking about that new development. The Phoney Pharaoh was still swinging his wild arms at them, and Alix had to roll to dodge the nearest strike.

“Hurry up and use me!” Alix shouted, only to turn and see Chloe still moving away, at least she wasn’t attacking her. Alix grimaced. “Damn it- _what_?”

Alixandria Kubdel was a witch. Half witch. And that wasn’t bad. Nothing was wrong with that. So why on earth did this fucking matter so much?

“I’m not touching you!” Chloe barked for the first time in a couple minutes as the two hastily ducked under one of the pillars that had been knocked over by the raging kishin. “There’s no I’m going to risk you getting your damn witchy germs all over me!”

Alix’s face fell and for a moment, maybe that mattered to Chloe, as her own sapphire eyes were filled with guilt before the heiress snapped her head away with a scowl. They couldn’t linger there long, as once more the hellish kishin was upon them. The pair scurried out from their hiding place as it was smashed to bits, and they had mere seconds to decide where they went next.

“We need to go back the way we came.” Alix nodded to the door, resisting the urge to grab Chloe and drag her there herself. She had to play this safe, which meant obeying the meisters sudden no touching rule. She sighed heavily when the blonde made no move to follow her directions. “If you want to live, get moving!”

The sudden increase in her volume seemed to have shocked the other girl into motion. With the kishin hot on their tails, they ran back through the dark catacomb they had just walked through.

Chloe stumbled through the dark ahead of Alix, bumping into nearly every little outcropping of the walls possible. So, Alix grabbed the meister by the sleeve and despite her protests, she dragged her along behind her as she tore through the catacombs.

Luck was on their side, as the cheeky speed spell Alix had snuck in was still in effect. If it weren’t for her quick words earlier, they would’ve been kishin food by now. 

Alix could hear the monster catching up as the exit came into view. Were they really about to release this monster onto the streets? No, she couldn’t let that happen. Something had to be done to keep the kishin within the catacombs no matter what, but what could Alix do with a meister who wouldn’t even touch her?

_Think, you dumb witch, think!_

With only seconds left before they’d be back on the streets of Alexandria, Alix pushed Chloe the rest of the way through. She quickly transformed both her forearms into the twin blades of her weapon form, and sliced at the stone pillars keeping the whole entree way standing. Alix ducked into a tight roll, and ended up flopping onto the warm street just as the structure came down behind her, the debris narrowly missing the toes of her sneakers.

The two looked up, eyes widened, as the entire catacombs collapsed in on itself, the Kishin’s pain filled screams being drowned out by the sounds of crunching bones, gushing blood, and demolished ruins.

…

Gabriel sighed, taking off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. “So not only did you two fail to take down the kishin egg, you also caused irreplaceable damage to a site that was nearly as old as humanity itself. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”

“It was her fault!” Chloe quickly said.

“How?! How is it my fault-“

“Because you-“

“Squabbling is not answering!” Gabriel shouted, stopping the two girls dead in their argument. The headmaster schooled himself, returning to the stoic and very upset manner he had been behaving in before. “Now, Miss Bourgeois, I shouldn’t have to remind you of the fact that above all else, DUPONT prides itself on being a school where every student can safely be themselves. Like it or not, Miss Kubdel is a student here, which means anyone who acts in a way that is discriminatory to witches will be faced with expulsion.”

Chloe paled but held herself together for one last argument that she begged would make sense to the man in front of her.

“But mom said—“

”The same mother who you haven’t seen in ten years? Yes. She did say that. That does not matter in this office.” Gabriel smoothly replied, shattering Chloe as her mouth clamped shut. She could feel Alix staring at her with those wide snake like eyes. 

Nathalie glanced up at Alix from her desk, adjusting her papers. “Miss Kubdel. You are a... a special breed in this case as a student. If you wish to change partners—“

Chloe prepared herself for any answer akin to ‘fuck no’ but found herself hearing instead- “One chance.”

She blinked, finding tears in her eyes as she looked up at the witch next to her- though she was not meeting her gaze.

Alix held up a finger “One chance... That’s it. After that, I’m done with little miss Blondie.”

Chloe let that nickname sting in her as she looked off. For once, she didn’t have much to argue against that. And she had no words to say that could apply to that.

There was just a sinking feeling of regret weighing down in her chest as she gripped tightly to the fabric of her jacket. 

“Well then if you’re sure. You both are excused. Nathalie, assign them to the remedial classes.”

“Of course sir.”

How unexceptional.

...

Standing out in the hallway outside of the office, there was nothing but an awkward silence as the two girls couldn’t find any words to say between them.

“So...” Chloe scratched the back of her neck a little sheepishly, feeling the slight... shame and doubt... weigh on her shoulders. “Who was uh... the witch?”

“Hm?”

“Who was your uh... witch parent? If you’re... if you’re half witch?” Chloe asked. The weapon girl rose an eyebrow and just huffed.

“My mom was a witch.” She mumbled, before her eyes narrowed bitterly. “But why should you care?” 

“Was?” 

Alix scoffed, looking away. “She’s dead. She- died when I was young, killed by a group of witch hunters.” Chloe watched as the girl lazily kicked at the ground. “Bet you’d get along real swell with them, since you share their sentiment.” She scoffed.

Chloe let those words pang through chest as Alix turned to walk away. Chloe tried not to look at her, pretending to be interested in her shoes- before she heard the clicking of Alix’s shoes pause.

“Hey, look at me.”

“Huh?” Chloe blinked, staring back up at the witch who was now by her side again, as she felt the girl’s hand guide up to her scraped cheek- and she could feel a soft humming prickling through the air around them. “H-Hey wait-“

Alix hovered her hand over Chloe’s bleeding cheek, and he heiress stared wide eyed as she felt a spreading of warmth hum over the wound.

“Snake snake, slither soothe.” Alix whispered, her voice light and careful, eyes thin in a soft glow, before pulling her fingers away and Chloe immediately put her hand on her slightly flushed cheek, finding there to be no more of the stinging bleeding cut.

Chloe opened her mouth to say something, but the little witch just turned away from her again.

“I wasn’t lying. I am giving you one chance,” Alix said, giving her a hard glare. “But if you mess up like that, or say that kind of shit to me again...” She flashed a bitter smile. “...then I’ll put a _real_ curse on you.” She chuffed, before storming away. Leaving Chloe in the hallway to her thoughts.

…

“Please tell me that was the last meeting of that nature, Nathalie.” Gabriel looked like he’d lived an extra hundred years in the span of the last two hours. If he had to deal with another pair of squabbling children.

“I am sorry sir, but I cannot.” Nathalie picked up the tablet that had been resting near the edge of Gabriel’s desk. “You have one meeting left, with that assissination duo.”

Gabriel just sucked in a very long tired inhale, before sighing. “My son, Miss Bourgeois, and Miss Raincomprix... why is it these three?” He asked.

“If it makes you feel better, they at least seem to be in good-ish hands with partners.” Nathalie said in a strained optimistic tone before putting her tablet on his table. “Miss Beaureal, Miss Raincomprix’s miester, shows some excellent promise...”

Gabriel huffed “Not enough though, if they must enter my office. Send them in, I can’t imagine what they must have done… and I can’t imagine what I have to deserve this…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back again! Next is the last of the prologue chapters, then things will really start kicking up!  
> We hope you enjoyed!


	3. The Way of the Assassin - The Uncertain Duo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barbie Princess and the Pauper but it's gay this time

  
The night was near silent, the noise of the city just a mere murmur, barely heard over the low sloshing of the water against the docks. The birds had all gone to rest, and each boat that was tied there drifted as far as their ropes would allow, dark and empty in the crisp air of the night.

The wind, more of a ghosting of a breeze, was just enough to rustle the sails just so, fabric quivering under the faint light of the moon. The stars, invisible through the layer of the light the city held up in the sky, unable to watch the scene below.

There was a single light on at that hour, a flickering, sickly yellow light in the upper office of the warehouse otherwise blanketed in the shadows of the older section of the docks.

Nestled into the corner of the sea and the raised land of the city, to which it was considered abandoned. The company that once owned it had gone bankrupt years ago, and with no buyer, it was left there to rot and fester until it collapsed.

However, just as a corpse invites scavengers, an empty warehouse drew seedy tennants, operating under the veil of the night. The dark underbelly of the city, hidden to those fortunate enough to have the funds to avoid those doings. Human trash, the whole lot, led by one who’d descended down a path of no return. Humanity given up for a hollow promise of power and eternal life.

It, no longer deserving the honour to be called ‘he’, choked out a laugh as a goon slit a man’s throat, another citizen unfortunate enough to fall into the doings the warehouse held. An inhuman tongue slipped from torn, ugly lips, and a flash of distorted fangs dyed yellow from the single light in the office.

A beast, a monster, a kishin egg. Its kind went by many names, all whispered with fear by the people they preyed on. Aurore rather preferred the term abomination, which carried the acid hatred she felt at the sight of it through the scope.

A slight movement, a small adjustment, she moved just enough to recentre on its deformed, monstrous face as the blue glow of a pure, human soul disappeared behind tangled teeth, split in a cruel grin.

The air was crisp and salty as Aurore drew it into her lungs slowly, her finger caressing the trigger as she forced her anger to fade, becoming one with the silent, cool night. It would just take one little pull, just one squeeze to rid the world of the filth the kishin egg was. It was her job, her duty, to end this sinful embodiment of evil’s life. Just one-

“You can relax a little.” A face popped out of the rifle just beside Aurore’s, and she nearly screamed as she fell back against the roof. Teal eyes blinked at her behind a pair of glasses, their owner frowning ever so slightly. “I’m sorry, did I spook you? Assassination jobs like this can take hours, since we need the perfect shot and all.”

Aurore pressed a hand to her chest as she let her body flop back against the rough roof. It stank of oil and gas. Death, what a long fucking night this was turning out to be.

_…[That morning]…_

Aurore liked to believe she was patient, but the universe was really forcing her to reevaluate that belief. She was growing antsy the longer the day drew on, and as the seconds ticked by into minutes, minutes into hours, she grew closer to throwing in the towel and just giving up on the whole partner thing.

It wasn’t like she was standing idle, either. She’d arrived as early as she could, Meister tag pinned clearly on her chest and had put on a friendly face. She’d introduced herself to every weapon she saw, but with every failure to find a match her heart sank a little more. 

_Of course it would be her, of all people, that ended up being a meister student with no weapon partner_ , Aurore hissed in her mind as she fought off a scowl. The urge to kick at the ground and just scream her frustration away was getting harder to fight.

It wasn’t like she was pissed off Mireille got a partner before her, or that she was totally jealous of Theo because Mireille should’ve been HER partner even though they were both meisters. Aurore’s parents were both weapons! She should’ve been- ugh it wasn’t fair!

But it was fine! Aurore was going to handle this with all the grace and beauty she knew she had in this world, and decided to go scream outside! Totally fine! Yep! She wasn’t going to repeat fourth grade where she smacked Theo in the head with an umbrella after he stole her toy car and she got stuck with the name Stormy Weather for three years. Absolutely not. Unprofessional people did that. Aurore was not unprofessional.

She was talented, she was strong, she was smart, and-

Aurore paused as she found her very important and crucial to this story inner-monologue interrupted by the sounds of someone sobbing.

Her footsteps stuttered to a stop as she glanced around the more calmer corner, looking in confusion to find an empty hall. She hadn’t even realized where she was going, just following her gut. However as she tried to walk forward to find the sounds of sadness- she nearly tripped on a body below.

Aurore looked down, blinking with surprise as she saw the head of soft ginger hair with wet tears falling from her freckled face, glasses put next to her curled up legs.

“Uh-“

The girl seemed to finally notice her, looking up weakly. Her soft teal eyes met Aurore’s, who felt her anger and frustration melt from her bones. She sighed, tucking a hair behind her ear and made her best smile, kneeling down next to her.

“Hey... are you... okay?” Aurore said, that was a dumb question. Of course this girl wasn’t okay. The blonde girl let her eyes wander down the girl’s form and found them catching on the girl’s tag. “You’re a weapon, huh? You uh, not have a meister yet?”

Wrong thing to say clearly, as the girl’s face fell and she crumpled into more stuttering tears. Aurore’s hands awkwardly hovered as the girl fell into her shoulder. No doubt staining her prim blue coat. The meister smothered a potential scowl, as her empathy seeped through.

_Damn you Beaureal..._ Aurore cursed internally. _You’re awful at comforting. Why did you even speak to this girl?_ She wondered, letting her hand lower and pat the weapon on the back.

There was a jolt of energy that passed through her palm as she made contact however, making the two girls flinch. The weapon girl fell backwards as Aurore immediately stumbled to her feet, staring down at her hands to see if they were undamaged by the sudden and strange sensation, before she looked down at the weapon girl.

The shift in air was what Aurore felt first, the shift that had been prickling across her skin but she had chosen to ignore since the moment she turned the corner. The pulling in her chest was next to be acknowledged as Aurore stared down into the weapon girl’s wide teal eyes as she fumbled to put on her circular glasses.

Aurore took a closer look at the weapon girl.

She was dainty, she was small, she looked fragile, nervous, and clearly had issues Aurore wasn’t sure she had the magnificent power to help fix- her outfit screamed ‘my dad made me wear this’, and she looked like the wind would topple her over which made Aurore wonder what kind of weapon she’d be.

But she’d make due with anything. She was Aurore Mother Fucking Beaureal after all. The next to be best meister of all DUPONT Academy, and she had a good feeling about this. Which was all she needed.

She reached out her hand towards the ginger haired girl.

“My name is Aurore, I guess we’ll have to be okay with each other then.” She said with a smile, “What’s your name?”

The girl sniffled, taking it and wobbling to her feet.

“...Sabrina.”

…

Aurore was pretty sure if she didn’t have Sabrina on some kind of leash, she’d lose the little weapon in the crowd, so they did their best with just holding hands very tightly.

No it was not weird, don’t make it weird.

“ _It’s okay, I’m kinda an “easy to overlook person”._ ” Sabrina had said, offering her hand out. “ _Uh, my friend would have to just drag me everywhere, I guess we can just do that.”_

Aurore bit down a sigh, she hoped their entire partnership wouldn’t be like this. Finding some directing people, Aurore approached two older teens by the stairs. One of them wearing the most ridiculous clothing, pointing around erratically while the other calmly pointed the very confused students off into a different direction.

And when Aurore meant ridiculous, god she meant ridiculous. Like, some would say she wasn’t better, pointing out her “obnoxiously” bright blue combat dress and coat, but they were ridiculous too. So, like, haters will hate, this chick looked nuts.

First off, she wore a gigantic oversized and very tacky graphic t-shirt of a surfboarding rabbit, with the rainbow sans font words ‘Groovy Bunny’ on it.

Luckily covering part of it was a zipped open sweatshirt that from what Aurore could tell, had bunny ears sewn into the hoodie with two button eyes as well. Also her hair was a platinum white fading into blue, splitting into two long pigtails that Aurore couldn’t tell were intentional... or this kid legitimately forgot to cut their hair but their partner found it cute.

Speaking of which, the other stood politely next to the bundle of chaotic energy and bad fashion with soft short fluffy brown locks, a large sweater that hung over their barely visible fingertips with paw shaped sleeves, and a pair of sneakers that went with their ripped black tights.

Right, so Aurore was definitely talking to the brown haired one.

“Excuse me?” Aurore spoke up, squeezing through the bustling students around her, and doing her best to keep her grip tight on Sabrina’s hand as they promptly popped out of the wave of people, to approach the two older students.

“Oh hello-“ The brown haired one started, Aurore was about to reply back when the trash gremlin shoved their way forward.

“AURORE BEAUREAL RIGHT?” Oh wow that was loud, Aurore blinked with surprise.

“Uh... yea-“

“Aurore Beaureal. New miester here, just turned 16, choked on a strawberry in the third grade, haven’t had your first kiss yet even though you brag that you did when you were 13 with the hot boy in your science class, have two weapon parents despite being a miester _-which is so strange and interesting isn’t it?-_ broke your finger trying to open your garage door and slamming on it, can’t ice skate despite saying you could when you were seven, and you woke up at around around around 5:32 am today because you were terrified and didn’t want to admit it so you just stared at pictures of clouds to comfort yourself, _Riiiiiight_?” The pale haired girl asked cryptically, barely blinking as they somehow found themselves leaning more and more closer to Aurore’s face.

The blonde paled, before her cheeks darkening into a sick indigo as as she backed up against Sabrina a little.

“Y-Yes... hooooow did you know that?” She croaked

The upperclassman just smiled innocently, tapping her foot on the ground “Oh I just read your student records.”

Sabrina’s eyes narrowed “How much stuff do they have in our student records…?” She mumbled flatly.

“Bunny… please stop scaring the new students…” The brown haired one whined softly, putting a hand on the laughing upperclassman’s shoulder. ‘Bunny’ just giggled.

“Don’t worry, Barkk. I’m not thaaaat bad. When’s lunch again? Or was it five minutes ago? Or six minutes ago? Seven minutes soon?” She babbled in growing confusion. Jeez this was definitely a nutcase..

‘Barkk’ thankfully saw the growing concern psssing by Aurore and Sabrina’s face and smiled kindly at them. “Sorry kids, Fluff gets like this... a lot. Did you two have any questions?”

Sabrina looked up at Aurore for her to lead and the blonde coughed into her fist, nodding.

“Uh, yeah, we do. Could you direct us to our first missio-“

“Ah your first mission!” Fluff exclaimed, bursting forward and grabbing the two’s hands and pulling them so close Aurore could feel the upperclassman’s breath tickling her cheeks. “Oh yes! We can direct you straight there! Yes yes- this way- that way- we know where you’ll be going! Head over to the what-where over there-“

“-to the mission board.” Barkk whispered in translation

“-And you two will soon find your beautiful selves in…”

...

…Dieppe, France. Specifically at some random shady docks. Not too far away, and they didn’t have to leave the country like other miesters and weapons apparently had to.

They’d arrived at the docks in a shuttle of tourists, just ducking away as they loaded up into a boat for a tour of the harbour. Which admittedly, Aurore _did_ want to go on, but maybe for a different date- time. Different time. Date sounded- date sounded... not what... she meant- _anyways_.

Helping each other up the wall, She and Sabrina had made themselves comfortable on the roof, and as night slowly fell on them in waves of reds, oranges, pinks, and then slowly royal blue that rested beneath layers of dark stormy clouds, Aurore kept her eyes focused on the warehouse that their target would soon arrive at.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt her blood boil. Failure was not an option for them, for her. She had made a promise to herself that she would eradicate the world of those abominations, and she wouldn’t let herself down.

“It’s cold.” Sabrina’s face glimmered over the scope. Aurore could feel the weapon quite literally shiver in her hands, to which she gripped the rifle tighter. The wind coming off the bay was quite cold, but Aurore could only feel it where her jacket failed to cover. “I really should have brought that coat, my dad was right.”

Aurore hummed softly, checking once again if they were all lined up. She ran a hand along the side of the rifle slowly, trying to let the cool metal sap some of the warmth from her palm. Then, she had a small idea. There was a box on the roof, short and long and otherwise useless to them, but it did look like it would block at least some of the wind.

She did her best not to let the sounds of her rustling clothes become too loud as she crept alongside the cement towards the box, biting down a shiver as the wind blew through her blonde hair. The box was quite light, but Aurore had to move it slowly, inch by inch to avoid making too much noise.

With the windblocker finally in place, Aurore took her place behind the rifle once more. Sabrina was staring at her with wide eyes through her reflection in the sight, but Aurore chose to ignore it and act like nothing happened. And no, her face was not growing warmer, it was a trick of the light. Whatever. She was warmer now anyways.

Aurore checked the alignment once more, just as something to do as she waited. She’d never been a very patient person. Her parents used to joke about how she couldn’t wait on the world to spin and if she could, she’d spin it herself. While she was never quite that bad, it wasn’t terribly far from the truth. Waiting was just something Aurore was never too keen for.

It, no longer deserving the honour to be called ‘he’, choked out a laugh as a goon slit a man’s throat, another citizen unfortunate enough to fall into the doings the warehouse held. An inhuman tongue slipped from torn, ugly lips, and a flash of distorted fangs dyed yellow from the single light in the office.

A beast, a monster, a kishin egg. Its kind went by many names, all whispered with fear by the people they preyed on. Aurore rather preferred the term abomination, which carried the acid hatred she felt at the sight of it through the scope. A slight movement, a small adjustment, she moved just enough to recentre on its deformed, monstrous face as the blue glow of a pure, human soul disappeared behind tangled teeth, split in a cruel grin.

The air was crisp and salty as Aurore drew it into her lungs slowly, her finger caressing the trigger as she forced her anger to fade, becoming one with the silent, cool night. It would just take one little pull, just one squeeze to rid the world of the filth the kishin egg was. It was her job, her duty, to end this sinful embodiment of evil’s life. Just one-

“You can relax a little.” A face popped out of the rifle just beside Aurore’s, and she nearly screamed as she fell back against the roof. Teal eyes blinked at her behind a pair of glasses, their owner frowning ever so slightly. “I’m sorry, did I spook you? I was just gonna say assassination jobs like this can take hours, since we need the perfect shot and all.”

Aurore gripped the gun tighter, stifling a growl. Yeah, that was the opposite of what Aurore wanted to hear. Death, this was going to be a long night. She let her body relax on the rough terrain of the roof anyway, resting her chin on her folded arms, keeping just one hand against the rifle. Against her partner, she corrected herself mentally. “Thanks for the heads up.”

They fell back into silence, only it started to grate on Aurore’s mood. Okay, so maybe she underplayed how patient she was, so what? It didn’t change the fact that here she was, about to waste her mind away on a dark, silent rooftop down by the docks. 

Her fingers started to drum unconsciously against the stock of her partner’s rifle form, dispelling the restless energy that came with staying stationary for too long.

And, it seemed she wasn’t the only one made antsy by the dull silence. Sabrina emerged from her weapon form in a flash of orange light, only one hand remaining in the form of the sight of the rifle. The awkward part in all of this, was how the weapon’s nose was but a breath away from Aurore’s, and the meister froze as she felt her partner’s breath ghost across her face. 

They sat in silence like that for a hot minute, Aurore pretty much on top of the girl with her hands grazing her sides, before the ginger girl’s face got real hot real quick, before she scooted back a fair distance. “Haha- _Hi_ , uh, I- sorry about that!”

“Yeah, no- no biggie.” Aurore swallowed, suddenly finding her mouth to be very dry. “It was an accident, I was just too close, I should’ve been farther back.”

“No! No, this is on me, I should’ve given you some sort of warning first.” The weapon laughed stiffly, looking anywhere but at Aurore. She raised her hand, the one that was still in the shape of her rifle form’s sight, like she was going to run it through her hair, only to bonk herself on the head.

Aurore winced in sympathy as her partner rubbed at the spot with her other hand. She didn’t look too hurt, but having anything smack against your head like that was bound to sting at least a little. “You good?”

The weapon nearly startled again, wide, surprised teal eyes shooting up to look at Aurore. It was almost like the girl was surprised that Aurore was showing her basic human decency. That was a concerning thought. “No, yeah, I’m good.”

Aurore gave the weapon a tense smile, nodded firmly at her answer. Oh yeah, their night was off to a real good start so far. She knew she always had such high expectations for herself and everything in general really, so her own disappointment was on her. Afterall, they’d known each other for less than a day, it was a little ridiculous on her part to expect them to work seamlessly on day one.

“Why did you turn back?” Aurore asked.

“Huh?” Sabrina looked up from the sight glass as she leaned on her other hand. Aurore motioned towards Sabrina’s body and the girl blushed. “Oh, yeah, uh. Thought you could use better company than a gun… and the target isn’t in any position for a good shot... so… we could kill time?”

Aurore clicked her tongue. Huh. Yeah, actually that seemed, nice. She asked, “Did you... have anything in mind then?”

“Oh- oh you’re okay with that?” Sabrina pepped up, Aurore shrugged.

“Why not?” Aurore sighed, scooting herself next to Sabrina over the roof to where that kishin abomination was mingling with it’s disgusting followers. Somehow the thing had enough mind to make business transactions.. but it kept moving.. they wouldn’t be able to get the cleanest shot here.. they needed it to be perfect.. “We’ve got some time to kill.”

“Haha, kill.” Sabrina snorted to herself, adjusting her glasses before pausing a little awkwardly. “Cause- uh- cause we’re killing... a- yeah. I think you get it.”

“I get it”

“Haha, yeah, uh, Sweet! Yep! Glad!” Sabrina smiled brightly, though she looked like she was dying inside ten times over. Feel her there man. The ginger clicked her tongue and looked over the roof again, putting the sight to her eye again. “Uhm, yeah though... they can’t hear us but... we can talk quietly... just chat... and, maybe get to know each other and become friends?”

Aurore glanced up at the weapon girl who met her gaze with a nervous glaze in her eyes and she just handed over her sight hand. Though that’s not what she wanted, Aurore leaned her eye forward to gaze through the spyglass in her ‘turn’.

Yeah they wouldn’t be able to get a good shot in for a while. Not with this guy moving so much. Babbling on and on with that grotesque mouth, slathered in drool and blood. Aurore’s eyes narrowed and passed it back to Sabrina.

“Become friends huh,” Aurore murmured, looking up and smiling at Sabrina a little, “that’d be nice.”

Sabrina grinned, tapping her fingers on her knee as she leaned back into her sight. The soft whistling of the wind and distant bustling of the inside warehouse filled the space between them. Aurore suppressed a noise as a chill went up her spine as she held her coat closer to herself.

“So uhm...” Sabrina spoke up, clearly as cold as she was, despite the wind blocker. Aurore motioned towards her sight hand to take a look through while the weapon girl scooted a little closer to Aurore. “W-What’s your favorite weather?”

Now that was such an appropriate topic, wasn’t it. But Aurore couldn’t help the shy smile stretching across her lips, it was also a ridiculous question for those who knew Aurore Beaureal.

“Hm, I really like stormy weather.” Aurore spoke in a hushed whisper as she lowered the sight from her face. A blooming warmth filled her chest as she began to start her, no doubt long, ramble. “It’s beautiful, especially when it’s during a sunny day? So you can see the sun filtering through the clouds while the rain makes the nicest sounds against the room, on the pavement. Thunder makes me excited as hell, lightning too. God I love lightning. I remember my parents taking me out in my little rain boots and just- jumping around on the sidewalk getting soaking wet despite my little poncho and blue umbrella I stitched little cloud shapes on-“

Aurore stopped herself, letting out a weak embarrassed laugh.

“It’s uhm, low key an obsession, sorry. It’s uh, it’s cool. And stuff. My dad’s a science teacher and it’s his favorite subject so like, he taught me a lot of it when I was a baby, and my mom is a meteorologist.” She scratched the back of her neck. “Both weapons, strangely. Uhm. They don’t do anything professional with that though.”

“Wow.” Sabrina responded, though when Aurore searched her breathy voice for annoyance, she found none. Just quiet awe and appreciation. “Uhm, really wow. I.. didn’t have that much thought about the weather. I kinda just like clear days I guess. Sunny days. Where I can feel warm...”

As if the world wanted to say fuck you specifically to the poor girl, a short gust of wind rolled up their necks, sending a shiver down their spines as the huddled closer for warmth. Hooo boy Aurore hoped they could leave soon, maybe get a hotel room with a nice heater and buffet…

Aurore made grabby hands towards Sabrina’s sight and glanced towards the warehouse. The kishin was slipping around, surrounded by its many greedy minions of what looked like businessmen, gangsters, and thugs. She wondered how willing these people were to die for such a demon.

“What’s your favorite food?” Aurore asked “Cause god I could go for something warm right now.”

“Same...” Sabrina shivered, taking her own look through the glass as she began to imagine “...I could go for something like a really nice- geez I don’t know- something.. soupy? Something to warm my stomach if you know what I mean...”

“Yeah like ramen, or clam chowder? I had this bomb bread bowl clam chowder one time… so good.” Aurore sighed, trying to reimagine that same warmth again as another chill went up her spine.

“Ehh, I don’t like clam chowder... kinda gross.” Sabrina stuck her tongue out sourly, before blinking with surprise and dipping her head in embarrassment. “S-Sorry that was super rude, i-it’s just a texture thing, I’m sure clam chowder is great-“

“No worries,” Aurore waved a hand, tossing one of her pigtails over her shoulder. And there was that face again on Sabrina’s face. 

That surprised delight at her niceness. Aurore’s eyes narrowed for a moment. Jeez, what happened to this poor girl? Her thoughts trickled back to when she found Sabrina, crying all alone in the halls.

“Tell you what, once we’re done with this assignment we’ll go get some nice dinner, or breakfast, depending on how long this takes.” Aurore offered with a gentle smile. _Damn you Aurore, next they’ll think you’ve gone soft._ “You can choose, I’ll even pay.”

Sabrina’s jaw dropped, and she began to wave her arms in a wide panic. “R-Really? Are- are you sure? Seriously I can eat anything it’s fine you don’t need to worry it-“

“I’m sure.” Aurore reassured, letting out a soft laugh. “Anything you craving?”

“Uhm, I mean, no, not really, I, give me some time to think about that?” Sabrina sputtered, tucking some hair nervously behind her hair as she tried to wrack her brain.

“No worries, we’ve got all night or morning depending on if we nail this assignment, which we will!” Aurore said confidentially.

The space between them filled with a comfortable silence, which lasted for what felt like either minutes or hours before the question that had been bubbled in Aurore’s chest for much longer than that finally spilt from her lips.

“Hey, so, can I ask something?” Aurore asked, Sabrina looked up from her turn with the sight. Her body froze for a moment before she nodded.

“Yeah? What is it, Aurore?”

Aurore clicked her tongue, trying to find her words “Uhm, why were you crying? When I found you at school?”

Sabrina fell to silence. Aurore heard a low shimmering sound and glancing back, she could see Sabrina rubbing between her eyes with one hand while the other held her glasses, having returned her hand from it’s partial weapon/sight form.

The seconds of unsure silence drew out for what felt like hours, as Aurore felt her mouth dry with worry. She wasn’t sure if Sabrina was ever going to answer until the ginger haired girl just let out a low tired sigh.

“I didn’t get the Miester I wanted.” Sabrina responded finally, her voice cracking weakly. “Pretty pathetic, am I right?”

Aurore’s face fell. But she didn’t want to interrupt as Sabrina continued to talk, her hands gripping tightly to her skirt as the soft dim lights of the warehouse beyond them glimmered against their faces.

“We were friends- _Are_ . We... _are_ friends.” Sabrina said, correcting herself halfway through as her face fell. “But I hardly doubt that’ll last.. with that new weapon she has… who’s just so much better than a dull common gun like me…”

Aurore’s stomach twisted as Sabrina’s voice bled with bitterness, and all she could feel was sympathy. The image of Mireille’s face popped back into the blonde’s head as she felt that familiar seething envy bubble in her chest again.

“We’ve known eachother since we were little... the moment we found out I was a weapon we wanted it to work so bad… but we just... we just weren’t! I felt… crushed.” Sabrina choked, wiping at her tears as her glasses wobbled on her nose. Aurore reached out and plucked them off before they fell and she could hear a soft ‘thanks’ from the ginger before she continued-

“It just.. it sucked even more today… like the world was driving home how I couldn’t be with her…” Sabrina said, her wet teal eyes softening to a state of longing that Aurore realized wasn’t just sadness of losing a ‘friend’. It was... something else. Sabrina muttered, “...couldn’t _have_ her...”

Aurore’s nail dug deep into her thigh as Mireille’s face flickered over her eyes again. The whispers in her mind creeping underneath her skin and biting into her lungs, making it hard to breath. Theo’s stupid face replacing the spot Aurore wish she had, the spot with Mireille.

But no, the world didn’t want that for her.

Sabrina’s cheeks flushed with her tears and embarrassment as her words caught up to her and she let out a weak laugh.

“Uhm, b-but yeah that’s what happened... it really didn’t help that the moment we walked into school she just- ran _right_ into her perfect partner!” Sabrina said, throwing her arms up “And like, it’s great! I’m happy for her! I am! Her weapon is this really glamorous golden palm axe- I know Chloe will be skilled enough to use her better than she ever could’ve used me, I never had a chance, b-but...”

“But just being happy for her isn’t enough sometimes?” Sabrina paused, glancing at Aurore who was angrily biting back her own stinging tears.

“Aurore?” Sabrina softly voiced, putting a hand on her thigh for support as Aurore couldn’t help the words falling out of her lips, words she had buried under heaps of bravado and spite.

“And you feel awful for wanting to take that away from her, just because you want her? And it feels awful every moment you see her with them, wondering why they’re better than you? Why you don’t deserve it? Or why you ever thought you did? And the disappointment just, just, sits there, like a rotting animal that just stinks up everything?” Aurore whimpered, before looking up at Sabrina with a weak sniffle. “Like, like that?”

Sabrina was quiet, her wide teal eyes shining with a growing understanding and just... sadness.

“Yeah. Just like that...” She murmured. The silence between them stretched for what felt like days, years, just the soft occasional sniffle and clicking of someone’s mouth opening to try and say something but failing to, before Sabrina found her words first. “Did you…?”

“Yeah.” Aurore sighed heavily, huffing. “I… also have a friend. Except it’s kinda stupider because she’s also a miester, so like, I reeaally didn’t have a chance.”

“Oh wow.”

“Yeah.” Aurore snorted “It’s just, I guess we always kinda had this... rivalry thing? Now thinking about it probably was just my one sided series of gripes with her and making it her problem, but it was our normal, and I thought it’d keep going… but…”

“But?”

“...emotions just mess things up I guess.” Aurore mumbled. Sabrina was quiet, pushing her glasses back to her face as they both grew quiet again.

“I guess we can relate to a lot more things than we thought,” Sabrina murmured, turning her hand back into a sight.

“Guess so...” Aurore smiled softly. “I think you’re pretty great though. And, I guess, even with all this shit, I’m glad I have you as my partner.”

Sabrina blinked, looking up at her. “R-Really? I kinda straight up said I was disappointed to have you.”

“Yeah, I mean I said the same, but yeah. You’re fun on your own.” Aurore replied, leaning on her elbow. “I may be kinda bummed things won’t be the same with my friend, and things won’t be the same with yours, but I’m glad I’m friends with you now.”

Sabrina stared at her for a long moment.

“I’m.. your friend?” She asked.

“Yeah!”

Sabrina let that process through her, before a shy smile spread across her face.

“Yeah, you’re my friend too. Thanks Aurore.”

The two laughed quietly together, the dark clouds over the sky rolling like waves as they continued to watch the warehouse. The kishin had pretty much created a dinner table of souls and corpses and yet it wouldn’t stop fucking moving, so wait they continued to do.

“Really though what are the odds?” Sabrina giggled.

“That we have the same problems?”

“Yeah.”

“No clue, guess it’s fate huh.”

Sabrina nodded. “Guess its fate!”

Talking felt smoother after that. The words came like smooth butter melting on warm, fresh bread. It felt like in that moment, things had just clicked together between them. It wasn’t like a soul resonance, no, but they understood each other, had something in common.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we became the best pair at DUPONT?” Aurore found herself saying. “Like, we didn’t get the partners we originally wanted and still came out on top. That’d really show ‘em.”

Sabrina smiled softly, playfully knocking a knee against Aurore’s. “If you just want to compete with your friend again, you can just tell me. You don’t need some elaborate plot.”

Aurore tried to fight off her blush, hoping that Sabrina would assume it was from the chilly night air. “I wasn’t- I didn’t- don’t laugh at me!”

Sabrina, to her credit, did look like she was really trying not to laugh, but the clear sound rang out in the soft air anyways. “I’m sorry, I am. I think it’s a great idea, really!”

“So you wanna try it? Aim for the top?” Aurore was pretty surprised, honestly. Sabrina hadn’t come across as the type to really wanna rise above so completely, to strive to claim the top spot with all her will. No offence meant, but she came across rather docile.

The weapon shrugged absently, looking through her sight once more. “I mean, I’ll support any goal you suggest for us. That’s a weapon’s job, after all, to support their meister through any situation.”

Aurore paused. She didn’t like the sinking feeling in her gut at that wording. Something was off here. “But we’re a partnership, both partners get an opinion. If you think my ideas are bad you should definitely let me know. We’re equals.”

“Not really. Weapons serve their meisters, that’s the way the world works. That’s why no solo weapons can enroll at DUPONT, and why there’s meister only classes while there aren’t weapon only classes. Weapons serve.”

Oh, that was some grade A fucked up belief right there. Something ugly and dangerous bubbled in Aurore’s stomach, and she grit her teeth to try to maintain some semblance of control. “Who’s been teaching you stuff like that?”

“My dad.” Sabrina’s smile was strained, and the arm that faded into her sight trembled ever so slightly. “He wasn’t the only one, but he reminded me the most. He didn’t want me to apply for DUPONT really, wanted me to live free of my duties as a weapon. He told me he didn’t want to see me have to submit to some meister’s will.”

Aurore had heard enough. How the hell still believed old fashioned shit like that anymore? No one was created below another, how hard was that to fucking understand? “That’s bullshit!”

They both froze as Aurore’s voice carried over the docks, praying that by some off chance that it hadn’t made it into the office of the warehouse.

The curtains were wrenched open, and Aurore’s gut churned as inhuman eyes found her form across the dark night. The monster disappeared out of sight, and a sudden burst of adrenaline kicked her into action.

The meister grabbed a hold of Sabrina, jumping down from their perch on the roof. Already she could just hear the chilling sound of bone dragging on concrete, and crates being tossed aside over the rush of blood in her own ears. There was a reason this kishin egg had been marked as an assassin target, and they were about to experience that reason first hand.

Even without the bustling tourists and fisherman that wandered and crowded the walk during daylight the place was a fucking maze. Shipping containers, boat parts, rats chewing at fish guts all creating a winding mess that the pair had to struggle through while the creature simply pushed through with a strength that emphasized how far removed from humanity it had become.

A box soared over their heads and shattered into a shower of splinters against the wall of the shack in front of them, and Aurore turned to find herself staring at that face, that mess of flesh and jagged teeth and sharp bone.

A long tongue slipped between its torn lips, dripping thick saliva that smelled so foul that it burned her nose from a few feet away. Boney fingers clicked on the deck as it prowled closer, eyes rolling around in its head.

Sabrina lifted one hand, her index finger transforming into the barrel of a gun. There was a small clicking noise, and a teal blast of pure wavelength pushed into the kishin’s chest. It stumbled back at the force of the shot, giving the girls their shot to get away once more while its burnt flesh reconstructed.

_This is all your fault_ , a voice hissed in her mind. _Fuck off_ , she thought back, trying to focus on where she placed her feet as her and Sabrina stumbled up the stone steps that would bring them back to street level.

Her lungs were starting to burn a little from the chilled air, her body feeling like it couldn’t decide whether to overheat from the exercise or to cool from the night air.

“Nice shot,” Aurore wheezed, pulling Sabrina behind a large van parked on the street. “You have some good aim.”

The weapon nodded, her teal eyes wide and blank behind her glasses. Aurore could practically hear the gears turning in her mind, working overtime to process all that had happened so quickly. “Thanks.”

A crash, a roar, and a pickup truck was crashing through the side of the little tourist shop a good few feet down from where they were hiding. If they let this thing continue, it was going to ruin the whole block. Aurore had to do something quick. _They_ had to do something quick. “Think you can get a finishing shot in if I hold its attention?”

Sabrina’s head whipped to face her, emotion back in her face immediately. “You can’t do that, you-”

“Yes or no, Sabrina.” Lumbering steps drew closer, and it killed Aurore to be firm with her partner after all that they’d just talked about. She grabbed the weapon’s shoulder carefully, trying to let her know that she hadn’t meant her harsh tone with her eyes alone.”

“...yes, fine, I can do it.” That was all Aurore needed to hear. 

She ran out from their hiding place, trying her best to ignore the way her blood nearly froze in ice cold terror as rolling eyes focused on her form. SHe spread her arms out, cringing as her voice came out shaking. “Hey, you big idiot! I’m over here! Fresh soul, right for the taking!”

“ _Yessssss_ ,” its voice was unnaturally low, each syllable grating against her ears. A lumbering step forward, clawed hands dragging on the pavement as it took its sweet time approaching the meister. “All _mine.”_

A bead of sweat raced down Aurore’s back, and she barely managed to suppress a gag as the rancid smell of rot and mold washed over her. The monster curled its back, head remaining level with Aurore’s as its body rose up to new heights behind it.

The meister struggled to keep taking air in as that slimy tongue made its way up her neck, leaving a burning trail of thick slober. The creature growled out a low hum at the taste, smacking ragged teeth on dry, stretched skin.

This was it, her body screamed for her to move, but Aurore held her ground. Sabrina needed her to stay still, to keep the kishin in position for her to take the shot. She owed her that much, for losing her cool and getting them in that mess.

Bones creaked and skin tore as the kishin egg unhinged its jaw, leaning over Aurore. Oh death, it was going to eat her whole. Before it could do more than hover over her, a crisp snapping sound rang out on the street. Monster guts splattered across Aurore and her precious blue jacket, and the kishin crumbled in on itself. 

Sabrina stumbled over to her as the creature faded into black nothing, leaving only its red glowing soul behind. Aurore fell to her knees, clutching her chest as she desperately gulped down as much air as she could. The weapon girl brought her into warm arms, shaking against her just as much as Aurore did. 

They held each other in the quiet street, adrenaline making way for pain and exhaustion. What a mess their night had become.

...

“I cannot even fathom how incompetent you both must be to have messed up a simple assassination mission this badly.” Headmaster Gabriel Agreste muttered, flipping through the pages that detailed just how wrong that night had gone. “The school has to pay over $500,000 in destruction fees overall, which is the highest amount I have ever seen billed for a simple trial mission.”

Aurore winced, clenching her fists on her lap. This was so far removed from what she had been picturing her first meeting with the headmaster to be like. A disciplinary summon was like, her worst nightmare. Well, her worst nightmare about school. She had no doubts that she’d be seeing that kishin again in her dreams for the next little while.

Sabrina, in the chair beside her, wasn’t doing much better. That blank, calculating look had returned to her face, head bowed. It was like the weapon girl had receeded back into herself, hiding like a turtle does in their shell.

While Aurore was pretty upset with herself for botching up the whole operation, there was a small voice in the back of her mind that hissed at her to reach out and grab Sabrina, to wrap her up in her arms so no one could hurt her like that again.

It scared her how hard it was to deny.

Gabriel scowled as he dropped the sheets once more, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “Messy. Sloppy. I’ve never seen such rushed- if anyone had seen it- Nathalie? Reports?”

The secretary looking woman with the cold eyes just sighed, eyes glancing up from the tablet in her hands.

“No reports here, sir.”

“Finally some better news. I expected more from you, Ms Raincomprix. What would your father think?” Gabriel spat, glaring at the two girls again, the ginger in particular. Sabrina flinched, the slightest flash of hurt popping into her eyes before the cold nothing returned. 

_Oh,_ how angry that made Aurore. There was practically a swirling and bubbling storm building within the blonde’s chest. Churning, ready to pop and explode with every passing second the two sat in this suffocating office.

“Well?” Gabriel gestured. But Sabrina wasn’t able to say anything. The man just heavily sighed, tsking under his breath as he muttered about children, money, reports, and how this day had gone nothing like his hopes. He looked like he had lived ten years in one evening. “Nathalie, put them in that class with the others. Tch, I would've had you expelled if anyone had seen the kishin...”

“Wait, just Sabrina? What about me?” Aurore finally spoke up. It had all been her fault, after all. There was no way she could sit back and let the other girl take the fall for her mistake. Sabrina gave her a pleading panicked look, like a ‘what are you doing?!’

“And why would I expel you?” Gabriel rose an eyebrow. Aurore just stared at him, the answers coming up in her head not good enough for her to say. ‘It’s my fault?’ Sure it was. Aurore was the one who shouted, but Sabrina could just so easily say that it was her who caused Aurore to yell.

She thought about before, what Sabrina had said, and it made her stomach twist again.

“I uh... sneezed. And ruined the shot. She didn’t do anything at all.” Aurore lied, wow that was an awful lie. “And I uh, got frustrated. And caused the mess.”

The entire room stared at her. Sabrina’s eyes were wide in a mix of fear and concern, the secretary was snickering softly behind her hand, and the headmaster just looked even more tired than he had before. “You sneezed? Are you seriously claiming that a single sneeze caused all of that?”

There was no turning back now. “Yep.”

Gabriel just stared blankly at her, his lips pressed into a thin line. The office was bathed in a tense silence, but Aurore held her ground. She couldn’t back down now, not after how far she’d come. 

He broke first. “Sure, why not? Report to remedial classes at the end of every school day until one of your supervisors says you’re done. Please get out of my office before I change my mind.”

His eyes narrowed down at them.

“However don’t let this get to either of yours’ heads. Just because you made such a simple mistake like that, Ms Beaureal, you both are a team and so the fault lies on both of you.” Gabriel lectured. His voice was cold and prickly. _‘On both of us’ my ass._ Aurore thought. _You just want a way to blame the weapon..._

“Right.”

Aurore stood quickly, dragging a stunned Sabrina behind her as she made a speedy exit. If she had it her way, she’d never spend another minute in that office for as long as she was a student.

The two stood there in the hall, before letting out a shared exasperated and exhausted breath.

“Holy shit.” Aurore wheezed, clutching her stomach. She felt like she was going to throw up.

“What- the heck.” Sabrina deadpanned.

“I can’t believe that worked” Aurore felt a manic grin spread across her cheeks in her spiraling disbelief. “God that was fucked.”

Sabrina rubbed her eyes weakly, shoulders shaking as she choked out a half sob.

“Sabrina? Sabrina what’s wrong?” Aurore quickly said, putting a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

She sniffled “N-Nothing! I just, that was really scary...”

Aurore’s fists balled at her sides, she huffed “I can’t believe he said that though!” She stuck her tongue out and lowered her voice into a dopey impression.

“-mleh just because you made such a simple mistake like that, Ms Beaureal, you both are a team and so the fault lies on both of you _mleeh-_ “

“What was wrong with that?” Sabrina asked

“What do you mean?” 

“What he said!” Sabrina threw her hands up “It’s not like he was wrong!”

“He was wrong though, he was wrong about everything!” Aurore exclaimed

“We messed up! I messed up! I failed!” Sabrina shouted, “I-“ Her face paled and she gulped uneasily as her voice croaked “If _I_ hadn’t told you anything you wouldn’t have gotten mad! It was, it was my fault, I’m sorry... Aurore.”

Aurore’s face fell. No. No, that was definitely not true. 

“Look- Sabrina- you- I-“ Jeez she was awful at this. How does one convince a person that something that could theoretically be their fault isn’t their fault?

Aurore took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself before she decided to speak once more, jeez, she was gonna be first in line to punch Sabrina’s dad in the face cause clearly this is his fault.

“Sabrina- it- no. No it wasn’t your fault.” Aurore softly said, tucking a piece of hair out of Sabrina’s face.

“Why are you so mad then?” She asked

“I’m mad for _you_. You didn’t deserve to be yelled at like that in the office.” Aurore said “If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve died. And I’m angry he can’t recognize that over this... This...”

Miester and Weapon Favoritism.

Aurore blinked. 

“Did he say that when he thought you made the mistake? The whole ‘fault lies with both of us’ thing. When he thought that _you_ messed it up?” Aurore asked, raising an eyebrow, and when Sabrina didn’t answer she mentally scored herself a point.

”I...”

“This whole system is completely flawed!” Aurore exclaimed “Weapons can’t go here without a partner but miesters can, even though they’re equally useless without a partner. Headmaster Agreste pushed all of the blame on you even when he didn’t have the full story- it’s like everything he says or what the school says is pushing you guys below us!”

She bit her thumb in anger.

“Damn it if I was in charge I’d rewrite it all! The partnership between miesters and weapons should be equal! My parents aren’t lower than me and they wouldn’t be even if they had miesters! And you aren’t lower either!” Aurore exclaimed, turning to Sabrina with a determined gaze and grabbing her hand. “You’re amazing! Neither you, my parents, or any weapon here and not don’t deserve this shit! You’re not a slave!”

Sabrina’s eyes widened, falling down at her shoes. A long silence filled the space between them, only being interrupted by Aurore’s short and shallow breaths- before Sabrina inhaled.

“Then let’s aim for the top.”

Aurore blinked as Sabrina looked up at her.

“We can become the best we can be, and maybe take over the school when we’re older! As headmistresses! Together! Equally!” Sabrina said, her teal eyes shining with thoughts and stars before they disappeared when a wave of doubt went across her face “Maybe? I dunno...”

But Aurore only squeezed Sabrina’s hand, a smile spreading across her cheeks.

“That sounds insane. And brilliant. I’m in.”

Sabrina blinked in surprise “R-Really?”

“Yeah! Let’s crush this remedial course and make our way to the top! We’ll fix this stupid system together!” Aurore grinned. Sabrina slowly found herself smiling, nodding.

“Yeah!”

This wasn’t the way Aurore wanted to start anything. Whether that was regarding this school year, this partnership, it’s been a rough day, but damn it all. Aurore was excited. And if she could make Sabrina’s eyes shine with stars of hope like that again, she’d do it over and over.

“I can’t wait.”

…

Gabriel left the office once the hall was clear, tiredly calling out to Nathalie to file away the forms that had been taken out to deal with the three situations that had arisen during the trial missions. A team of four, a weapon with witch blood, and a rather loud assassin duo. This new intake class sure was something.

That wasn’t even counting the teams that had been successful on their missions, Nathalie mused, tucking the team forms back into their folder in the cabinet. Already the class standings could be predicted from the mission results, and boy were they surprising. Nathalie had her eye on one pair in particular for top spot, but that was neither here nor there. She locked the drawer, shut off the lights, and left the quiet office.

What an interesting term they had ahead of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe long time no see folks. It's been a hot minute (month) but it's finally here, the third intro chapter!
> 
> From here on out its story time y'all!


	4. Three Paths Collide - the School Year Begins!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of classes at DUPONT has finally arrived! Despite the obstacles that stood in their way, Luka, Marinette, Adrien, and Kagami have made it to day 1! Now, the real challenge begins. Can they survive the first night, the first dawn, and first day of classes? Only time and a healthy serving of bisexual crisis will tell

  
Beginnings were not a terribly big deal to Luka. It wasn’t that they were seemingly lackluster, or just didn’t spark his interest, he simply didn’t believe that he should spend any extra energy fretting over them.

Everything has a beginning just like everything has an end, that’s just how he saw things. Starting something new will lead to that thing ending, as is the natural cycle of life. Luka sees no reason to put any special significance on either of those. The journey between them was the really exciting part.

He’d had a lot of time to get deep and philosophical in his little gap year, which had helped out when it came to coping with the fact that he hadn’t been compatible with anyone the year before. His solo journey had just been a little longer than most, and here he was reaping the rewards with his _three_ partners. 

This thought process had saved him some major anxiety over his first day of school, his first night in the dorms with his new roommates, or his first night so far from both his Ma and his sister. It was for the better, their team needed someone still thinking logically through that first night.

The first problem had arisen just after dinnertime the night before classes were to begin. Move in time, the time table had labeled it. Apparently, there hadn’t been enough time to prepare a dorm for four, and there weren’t enough rooms for two for them to split into pairs while their dorm was being built.

Yeah, four teens, two bedrooms. The chances for survival were very, _very_ , slim.

Luka didn’t mind sharing one bit. He and Juleka had shared since they were kids, and honestly, he didn’t like the idea of sleeping completely on his own. Adrien had first suggested they go weapons in one room, meisters in the other, but that idea was quickly discarded when Kagami mentioned that it would be “indecent”, or something. So they went for the gendered approach.

Adrien was, excitable. He was practically vibrating as he called the bed by the far wall, carting along his collection of suitcases. Because of course he had more than one, he was the headmaster’s son. He at least didn’t seem all that bothered by the idea of sharing a space with Luka, quite the opposite actually.

“It’ll be like a sleepover that just doesn’t end!” Adrien had grinned at Luka as he carefully pulled yet another pressed suit out of one of his many, many boxes. Luka wouldn’t be surprised at this point to find out that that was all he wore. “I mean, I’ve only ever had a few sleepovers with my friend, Chloe, but they were fun!”

Luka had simply hummed in response, plucking at the strings of his guitar lightly. He was already unpacked at that point, and it had been too early to turn in for the night. Adrien continued his excited ramble as he made his way through his collection of belongings, which was more than alright with Luka. He could speak enough for the both of them.

He’d slept rather well. Though He _did_ miss the rocking feeling of the houseboat he’d grown up on, that wasn’t enough to disrupt his night completely. Luka was never really one to sleep in too late, despite the fact that waking up each morning was an uphill battle. He had no desire to stay in bed, yet he had to trick himself into leaving the comfort of sleep.

The main room of their dorm was empty and quiet when he stepped out from his shared room. Quiet mornings were Luka’s favourite. A solitary moment in each day where the only song he could hear was his own, before a long day of noise and colour and noise.

Luck would have it that the dorm fridge came already stocked. Groceries had slipped his mind in the flutter that had been moving in, and going hungry due to such an oversight would’ve been a poor way to start the first day. He grabbed a couple eggs to start with, finding butter and a frying pan nearby.

Adrien came out first, right as Luka started mixing the berries he’d found in the fridge. The blond meister’s previously meticulous hair resembled a bush more than anything, though the fluffy look was rather cute in Luka’s opinion.

Tired green eyes blinked up at him through a messy fringe. “Good morning. You’re up pretty early?”

“Just what I’m used to, I guess.” A timer went off behind him, and Luka turned to fish a tray of sausages out of the oven. “You get more day hours if you start earlier, get all the necessary evils out of the way.”

With his back turned, Luka couldn’t see exactly what the meister boy was doing, but he gathered that he’d taken a seat at the two dining tables that been pushed together to fit all four of them. They must’ve been pretty lucky, since they found all that spare furniture in the general dorm storage.   
  


Adrien’s soft voice cut through Luka’s musings. “You know how to cook?”

“A few things here and there.” He flicked his wrist, and the eggs in the pan flipped just how he wanted them. Good, he didn’t make a fool of himself in front of his new partner. “My Ma was always rather busy, and it was either microwave dinners or learn how to cook.”

“That’s so cool!” A squeak from a chair. Adrien must have bounced. “I mean, the cooking thing, not the mom thing. I’ve never really had to cook for myself, but I’d love to learn one day!”

  
Learn, huh? Luka flicked the heat off on the stove, making sure to place the pan on one of the burners he hadn’t been using. “If you want, you can help me finish up today?”

“Wait, seriously?” The meister sounded genuinely surprised, and something about that rubbed him the wrong way. Luka made a mental note to watch out for Adrien’s responses. “I mean, I don’t want to get in your way. I’d hate to ruin all your hard work with some silly mistake.”

Luka picked up the tray of toasted bread he’d but aside to tend to the eggs, grabbing the opened butter and a knife as he made his way to the table. “We’ll start simple. Can you butter the toast for me?”

The blond meister just stared back at him, mouth open just so, his hands shaking on his lap. Then, as if finally snapping back to reality, Adrien smiled wide, nodding as he reached for the knife offered to him. “You can count on me!”

The two finished preparing breakfast in a smooth silence, comfortably blanketed in only the crackle of the knife against the toast. Luka started placing the plates of food in the centre of the table, making sure to make it very clear that Adrien had done a good job with the toast. “Can you go knock on the girls’ door? Wouldn’t want them to miss breakfast while it’s still warm.”

Adrien made to stand up from the table as the front door opened. Both boys looked over, and were met by the sight of Kagami, sipping from a red water bottle.

She was dressed in athletic gear, her hair and visable skin damp. Her sleeveless top showed off a stellar pair of arms, and Luka could tell that those weren’t the only muscles of hers that were so well defined. “No need, I will wake Marinette myself.”

Luka’s eyebrows drew together. He was sure that he was the first one up. After all, his phone had read 4:45 am when he first made his way into their shared space. He’d sat on the couch for a good hour or so before he began breakfast, too. Just what time had Kagami left?

“Hey Kagami! You’re an early riser too, huh?” Adrien smiled at the weapon girl as she passed through the living room. “I guess it must be a weapon thing, I’m more a fan of sleeping in.”

Kagami grunted softly, stopping at the hall closet between the two bedrooms and beside the bathroom to grab one of the smaller towels provided by the school. She toweled off her hair before letting it sit around her neck. “Must be.”

“Where were you while you were out?” Luka asked, taking a seat at the table. “You were gone for a pretty long time.”

Kagami eyed him over her water bottle, squinting just so. “Morning run. Our other meister is rather active in her sleep. Rolling and such. ”

Ah, yes that explained it. Luka lucked out, Adrien had basically been comatose the second his head hit the pillow. “At least you have separate beds, yeah? You didn’t get rolled on.”

“I suppose.” With that, Kagami opened the door to her shared room, snapping it shut behind her.

Luka looked across the table at Adrien, who didn’t seem at all bothered by the weapon girl’s ways. Maybe it was some rich kid thing, being used to stilted conversations. But then again, it could just be those two. Luka would bet money that no one in their team fit into any proper mold.

Kagami returned moments later, tugging a half asleep Marinette behind her. The meister’s eyes were struggling to stay open, and she clearly had no clue about what was going on around her. Kagami sat her in one of the chairs between Adrien and Luka, grabbing a single slice of toast. “I need to shower. I will be back.”

That left three. Marinette blinked hard, resting her chin on her arms, folded atop the table. “What time issit?”

“Just after 6:30.” Adrien supplied, glancing at the watch perched on his wrist. That watch alone probably cost more than Luka’s entire wardrobe. “Class starts at 8 sharp, and they recommend that we show up at least fifteen minutes in advance, though.”

“Ugh, that’s still over an hour away.” Marinette stifled a yawn, eyeing the plate of eggs sitting in front of her. “The morning is worse than a kishin.”

Adrien laughed softly, reaching out to pat Marinette’s elbow. “I can understand that. Those two sure are early birds, though.”

“The morning isn’t that bad.” Luka shrugged. It was his favourite part of the day, but he knew not everyone thought that way. He hoped that something like this wouldn’t come between their partnership. He didn’t doubt the connection he felt to the other three, but he’d heard of partnerships ended over smaller things.

They didn’t have to wait horribly long for Kagami to return to the table, the other weapon appearing very surprised to find breakfast untouched. “You, you didn’t have to wait for me.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Marinette yawned, blinking away the dampness in her eyes. 

Adrien nodded, that bright smile of his back on his face once more. “Yeah, we’re a team! Doing things together just kinda makes sense.”

Luka could tell that Kagami didn’t quite get the point they were making, but she didn’t try to argue it. She took her seat silently, watching as Marinette grabbed the plate with the eggs eagerly. Luka also made a mental note to keep an eye on her, alongside Adrien.

Breakfast, once things got kicking, was rather pleasant. Adrien kept the conversation flowing, and Marinette slowly got more and more enthusiastic in her answers as she woke up further. Luka smiled softly as he watched Kagami’s eyes go wide as their meisters sang the jingle of some local breakfast chain he hadn’t heard of. 

“Say, Kagami-” Adrien cut himself off my taking another bite of his sausage. “-would you like some company on your runs?”

Kagami blinked back at him, a forkful of egg lower back to her plate. “I do not mind running alone, but I won’t protest you joining of your own free will.”

“That sounds like a fun team bonding thing.” Marinette added, hissing as she nearly tipped over her glass with her bandaged hand. She’d reassured them all that she healing fine, but the reminder of her injury, of their failure, brought a small frown to Luka’s face. “I’d love to tag along. That is, if it was at a reasonable hour.”

“I think I can work with that.” That small, soft smile of Kagami’s was back, for the first time since they moved in. “Will you be joining us as well, Luka?”

A little run in the morning wouldn’t kill him, and they would benefit from the extra time together. “Count me in.”

They still had plenty of tiem before they had to report to class once they finished eating. Luka’s phone had buzzed in his pocket as he made sure his bag had all the supplies he needed for the day. A good morning text from his sister, which meant she was also ready to go. He knew she was probably fine on her own, but his brotherly side had him ask her to meet up with him by their class early so he could be sure.

“Where’re you off to?” Marinette asked as Luka shouldered his bag, toeing on his shoes at the door. “We don’t need to leave for another half hour?”

He opened the door, smiling back at his three partners sitting in their living room. “Meeting up with someone before class. I’ll meet you all there.”

He shut the door behind him as he left, navigating through the halls to meet up with his little sister. The new student dorms and the first year classes were on the same side of DUPONT, luckily enough, so it wasn’t long before Luka was waving a pair of girls standing at the end of the hall.

“I see you lived.” Luka pulled Juleka in for a small hug, giving her an extra squeeze. “I hope you didn’t miss me too much last night, Jules.”

Juleka smiled slightly, shoving at his shoulder lightly. “Didn’t even give you a second thought. I think I actually slept better without you there.”

Yeah, she missed him alright. Luka turned to smile at the blonde girl waiting patiently by her side. He had been right there too, she was the same girl he remembered bumping into with Juleka in the hall. “You must be Juleka’s meister. I’m Luka, her brother. Congrats on not being scared off.”

“Why would I be scared off? Juleka is a wonderful partner!” The little blonde smiled at his sister, who ducked back behind her hair. Luka smiled as he spotted the tint of pink coloring her face. Oh yeah, Luka couldn’t wait for this girl to be his sister-in-law. 

“Well I’m glad to see that my sister is in good hands.” Luka mused, giving Juleka a slightly playful look that she returned with a glare “What’s your name?” He asked.

The girl beamed. “My name is Rose, it’s very nice to meet you, Luka!”

...

Marinette was having a decent morning, despite being literally dragged out of bed by her new roommate. She wasn’t used to waking up at the crack of dawn. Back at the bakery, her parents wouldn’t worry unless she was only crawling out of bed at noon. She knew from her morning that this would not be the case anymore.

Kagami had been surprisingly nice about it, actually. She’d gently shook Marinette until she was at least responsive, and given her a second to properly join the land of the waking before pulling her to her feet. Perhaps their experience at…

Marinette stared down at her slightly bandaged hand, remembering the slightly smoking skin and burning of pain that went up her arm. She glanced back up at Kagami. It was hard to believe that someone who was barely taller than her could hold such destructive power.

Breakfast had been nice too. Luka’s eggs were just as good as the ones she’d have back home, and it never really felt awkward. It was just, nice. Marinette could get used to sharing such a small space with three others if it was as nice as this.

Luka left rather suddenly after that, sounding cryptic as hell and leaving Marinette more confused than not. Neither Kagami or Adrien looked particularly bothered by his exit, but it made Marinette feel uneasy, like he was hiding something.

The rest of them left with just fifteen minutes to the suggested arrival time, which was more than enough to find their classroom. Marinette usually left for school with five or less until the bell, so this was a major improvement. She walked through the halls flanked by Kagami and Adrien, the later nearly skipping with every step.

“My father said that our teacher was once a star student here.” Adrien explained, stars in his eyes as he rattled on about what they were to expect. “A meister, I believe, one half of one of the most successful partnerships to ever graduate from DUPONT!”

If that was the case, maybe her parents had met her. Despite retiring to open up a bakery in the city, Tom and Sabine Dupain-Cheng had been a force back in their kishin hunting days. Marinette would ask them in her letter home, she decided. “That’s exciting!”

“Yeah, this should be a great year!” Adrien smiled bright, hands tugging on the strap of his little laptop bag. 

“Once we take first place, it will be.” Kagami injected, staring straight ahead. Marinette watched her move out of the corner of her eye. She was such a strange person, it intrigued her. She wanted to know what ran through Kagami’s head. “And we _will_ take first.”

Her confidence was empowering. Though it also almost made Marinette nauseous as the creeping of fears and worries went up her spine. Of what would happen if they didn’t.

They slowed to a stop as the turned down the hallway where there classroom was supposed to be, and Marinette could tell that all three of them noticed Luka standing at the other end of the hall with the bright blue in his hair. Their missing teammate looked to be in a very engaging conversation with two girls about their age. 

The taller one, only just shorter than Luka, had purple streaks in her dark hair that perfectly complemented the darker tones she dressed in. It pooled over half of her face and made her dark copper eyes seem to shine. The shorter, blonde girl, only came up around the other’s shoulder and wore a pink dress that looked like it came right from the fairy tales Marinette had read as a child. 

Luka had his arm thrown around the shoulder of the taller girl, his back turned to the trio that now stood at the other end of the hall from him and his companions. Marinette could vaguely hear the soft sounds of laughter and excited chatter.

_I wonder what they’re talking about_ , Marinette thought, too far to catch any stray strings of conversation. From the short time that she’d known Luka, Marinette had taken him to be the kind of guy who was more silent than not, yet there he was. He was probably pretty close with the purple girl, could she be his girlfriend? 

That thought made Marinette frown, and she quickly tried to reign her face back in. Why would that make her frown? The girl was super pretty, _super super pretty,_ and she should be happy that one of her partners was happy. So why...

“Hey, there’s Luka!” Adrien perked up, lifting one hand to point down the hall. “We should go say hi. Do you think he’d introduce us to his friends?”

Kagami reached past Marinette to grab a fistful of the back of Adrien’s suit jacket. He had already started forward again before either of them could answer. “He appears rather busy catching up with his… _companions._ He’ll join us in class when he’s done.”

Adrien deflated a little bit, but he nodded softly and didn’t offer up any complaints or arguments. Marinette gently rested her hand against his arm. “Come on, maybe the door is unlocked already and we can pick out our seats!”

“That’s a good idea, Marinette.” Kagami agreed, releasing the blond meister’s jacket, her arm stiff as she smoothed out the slight wrinkle left behind. “If we dawdle, we may lose our chance of finding enough space for all four of us to sit together.”

The weapon girl took the lead, the tails of her coat fluttering behind her as she approached the door. It was unlocked, and the trio filed into the classroom. There were a few pairs scattered around the room, all in odd places.

Front and centre a short boy with glasses was straightening a small stack of notebooks in front of him. The taller boy beside him didn’t have anything in front of him, his head resting on the desk. In the farthest corner a blonde sat stiffly beside a shorter girl with vibrant pink hair, neither moving or talking. 

Marinette’s focus was brought back to centre with a soft tug on her wrist. Kagami had wrapped her hand at the base of the bandages, one eyebrow lifted over dark eyes. Shit, had she said something? “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.”

“I asked if you had a problem with the second row.” Kagami paused, then released her hold on Marinette’s wrist. “Adrien has already stated that he has no preference.”

The second row? Marinette glanced over, finding it still empty. Each row looked like it would comfortably fit six or seven students, or three duos with a little extra room. It would make the most sense for a large group like them to take the only row that was still empty. “The second sounds great to me!”

She followed behind her partners as they took their seats. Kagami made her way to the far end of the long desk, leaving an empty space beside her. Marinette assumed the empty space was being left for when Luka finally came into the class. Adrien sat between the two girls, and he might as well have been bouncing in his seat as he started to pull supplies out of his bag. 

Marinette took her time getting her own things out, and let out a sigh of relief when everything she needed was there. She always had trouble remembering to bring everything last year, and she was proud that she hadn’t fallen back into old habits on the first day.

The class filled rather quickly as they got closer to classtime. Luka waved at her and Adrien as he walked around to join Kagami, the two girls he was talking to walking past them to the top row. Marinette ignored the flicker of strange annoyance when the taller waved at Luka with a long smile and the small trill in her chest as Luka flashed her a smile around their partners.

A bag dropping on the desk beside her startled Marinette, who turned to blink up at its owner. Standing tall with beaming amber eyes and a mane of dark red hair curling into light orange, was another girl. She had what looked to be a messier version of their school uniform and a pair of glasses resting on her face. Behind her was who she assumed to be her partner, wearing a bright red baseball cap and a pair of headphones sitting on his shoulders.

“Hey there deskmate, my name’s Alya. You wouldn’t mind if I sat here, right?” The girl, Alya, held a hand out to Marinette as she sat down beside her. Marinette took it gently, a mix of nerves and how sensitive her hand still felt. 

“Marinette.” She had meant to say more than that, damnit. Marinette cleared her throat as softly as she could and tried again. “My name, it’s Marinette. It’s nice to meet you, Alya! And uh- no I don’t mind.” _Much better._

The other girl smiled at her as she fished around in her bag, eventually pulling out a single pencil and a thin notebook “Likewise, girl! Thanks!”

The boy with the hat nudged Alya’s elbow slightly, tilting his head in Marinette’s direction just so. Alya gasped, turning back to face Marinette, leaning back against the bench to keep the boy in Marinette’s sight. “Right, I nearly forgot! This is Nino, my meister. I’m a bow weapon.”

“Hey Nino.” Marinette waved back at the boy, before turning to look down the bench at her own partners. “I’m a meister too, and this is Adrien-”

Alya cut her off by practically crawling over her, hand extended to Adrien. The blond had turned at the sound of his name, and quickly returned Alya’s smile. “Adrien! Glad to meet you, I’m Alya and that’s my meister Nino. I’m a bow, what kind of weapon are you?”

“Weapon?” Adrien tilted his head, a small, cute frown on his face. Marinette slid down in her seat a little, feeling her face heat up. First introduction and she was already messing up. “No, I’m not a weapon, I’m a meister!”

“Huh? But aren’t you…” Alya trailed off, leaning back to glance down at Marinette. “I thought Marinette was introducing you as her partner, my bad.”

A look of clarity passed over Adrien’s face, and he was smiling once more. “Oh, I see! No, you’re right, we are partners.”

Adrien didn’t continue, and judging by the looks of confusion on their new classmates, Marinette would need to fill in the details. “Right, let me clear this up. Adrien, lean back a second-” the blond moved, revealing Kagami and Luka behind him, “-that’s Kagami, and behind her is Luka, they’re both weapons. We’re a team of four.”

“Four? I thought the maximum was like, trios?” Nino leaned out over the desk, watching all four of them. 

“Eh, it usually is.” Marinette tangled her fingers in her lap, trying to keep them from fidgeting too hard. “Apparently we’re a special case?”

There was a moment of silence as Alya and Nino thought it over. Alya sat back on the bench, nodding to herself softly. “Huh, interesting. That’s going to be interesting to see in action. I want to know everything about it.

“Yeah dudes, that sounds sick!” Nino grinned, adjusting his cap on his head.

Alya looked like she was about to add more, but she stopped to look at the door. It opened just as the school bells chimed, swinging shut as a woman strode up to the desk in the front of the class.   
  


Her expression was kind, and her hair was wrapped in a pleasant bun with a section of her bangs wisping over part of her freckled cheeks. She wore a modest grey blazer with what looked like a teal dress shirt underneath it and dark pants.

The woman, after placing the stack of pages she was carrying on the desk, turned to face the chalk board. She wrote confidently, leaving a neatly written ‘ _Ms Bustier_ ’ behind. She turned back to the class, and smiled kindly up at them, the room dead silent. “Good morning.”

Adrien parroted the greeting back immediately, bright and cheerful. Slowly the rest of the class did as well, though none as enthusiastically as the blond meister. 

“Thank you.” The woman nodded once, eyes scanning the class. “Well, welcome to your first day as students here at DUPONT. My name is Ms Bustier, I’m a meister, and I’ll be your homeroom teacher during your time here. However long that may be.”

The last bit was tacked on the end, said casually, but it felt like anything but. Marinette’s parents had warned her that many quit or failed out before they could complete their studies there, but she’d never been concerned by that fact. But now, already behind on day one, the warning felt like a slap to the face. If she wasn’t careful, Marinette could end up being sent running home before the winter break.

Ms Bustier walked around her desk, picking up the page on the top of her stack. “Not that I’m really concerned about most of you. Everyone’s entrance files were better than most years, so you only need to worry if your first mission was a flop.”

_Ouch._

She dropped the page back on the desk, scooping up the stack of papers as she made her way to the edge of the first row. “Here, pass these around. You’ll be getting a small package of worksheets as they come around. As much as I’d love to do the classic icebreakers on day one, the school insists that we quickly review everything you should know up to this point.”

Oh death, that sounded like torture. Marinette took a package from Alya, skimming the first page. There was a diagram of the different types of souls, and a small introductory paragraph for both meisters and weapons. Damn, they were starting with the basics. The package was at least ten pages double sided, too. This was going to be awful.

Up at the front, Ms Bustier smiled. “Who’d like to start us off by reading the first paragraph, on human souls?”

The package took them all class. Some of the others in the class read rather slowly, and Ms Bustier had to stop more than once to correct some of the outdated beliefs that had still been left in. When the last word had ben read, the whole class had sighed in relief. Marinette had let her forehead drop to the desk, overrun with the exhaustion of focusing on such a mundane task for so long.

“Darn, we’re nearly out of time.” Ms Bustier stared at the clock over the door. Her fingers tapped at the edge of the desk as she bit her lip, eyes narrowed in thought. “We’ll just have to do proper introductions tomorrow. Before you go, I just have a few small announcements.”

Marinette extended her arms in a silent stretch, moving her bag silently to her lap. She didn’t want to be rude and outright start packing, but she was getting ansty sitting in the same spot. She just wanted to go for lunch. Alya, apparently in the same boat, tucked her pencil behind her ear and slowly dragged her papers off her desk. 

“As I’m sure you’re all aware, there are certain classes that are for meisters only.” The elder meister explained. That just didn’t sit right with Marinette. She wasn’t better than Luka or Kagami or Alya just because she was a meister, so why couldn’t they join in on meister classes? Or even just have weapon classes? “They’re every second day in your afternoon block, meaning every second day all weapons get some free time. Your first meister classes are tomorrow.”

The bell sounded, stirring the class into action. Alya swept her workbook into her bag in one movement, standing in an instant. Marinette tried to tuck her pages away as neatly as possible, but she just wanted to get back out into the world again.

“Quickly, one last thing before you go!” The teacher called, halting the wave of students. “Outside the classroom there’s a board that displays your class standings! The one in the hall shows how you and your partner are doing in terms of missions, and after your first test an individual ranking will go up in the back of the class.”

Oh no, this was a nightmare. The whole school would be able to see just how far behind Marinette and her partners were already! Adrien and Kagami both came from families famous for being amazing, so it only made sense that everyone would assume that Marinette was dragging them down.

While Marinette’s mind began to slowly spiral, Ms Bustier continued. “Now, since it’s only the first day, these rankings aren’t set in stone. At the moment, most of the class is very close together, so it won’t take much work to move up or down. There is a clear leader for now, though. Enjoy your lunch!”

Marinette blinked. There was a leader already? How could that be, there hadn’t been time to do more than one mission? 

Marinette trailed behind Adrien as they filed out of the class, only to stop outside the door to glance up at the board with the rankings. Marinette cursed the fact that she was on the shorter side, standing on her toes in an attempt to see past the wall of bodies in her way.

Adrien must have noticed her struggle, because suddenly he was tapping her shoulder, offering her his phone, a photo of the board on the screen. The blond meister smiled down at her, gesturing for her to take the phone. “Here, take a look!”

Marinette fought off the heat rising to her cheeks, and smiled back at the other meister. How thoughtful of him. She looked down at the screen, looking over the list for herself.

1. _Rose & Juleka - 7 souls _

2. _Nino & Alya - 2 souls _

3\. _Mylene & Ivan - 1 soul_

4\. _Max & Kim - 1 soul_

5\. _Nathaniel & Marc - 1 soul_

6\. _Aurore & Sabrina - 1 soul_

7\. _Adrien, Marinette, Kagami, & Luka - 0 souls_

8\. _Chloe & Alix - 0 souls_

Hold up, they weren’t last? Another pair didn’t get a single soul? Marinette was astounded by the luck that she’d been granted. Second last wasn’t much better than last, but they were still closer to the top than Marinette had anticipated! 

Her excitement transformed into pure astonishment when she read up to the top of the list. Seven? _Seven_?! No, that couldn’t be possible!

Those students, Rose and Juleka, would have to be leagues above the rest of them to accomplish that already! Marinette glanced around the group of her new classmates, trying to grasp how two of them had managed such a feat already.

And then suddenly there was a rush of fear. These were not only her classmates, but competition. Her eyes narrowed with determination, gripping tightly to her bandaged arm.

_Guess we’ll just have to work harder._

... 

Adrien was having an absolutely amazing day! Sure, his first class as a student at DUPONT hadn’t quite been as exciting or amazing as he had dreamed, but that couldn’t bring down his mood. He felt like he’d been waiting his whole life to step out from behind his father, and the rush of it hadn’t worn off since he’d first stepped foot in his new dorm.

Once he’d gotten his phone back from Marinette at the beginning of lunch, Adrien had ran into Chloe and Sabrina standing to the side of the hall silently. He hadn’t seen his friends since they separated at the same event that had introduced him to his three partners, and Adrien was pumped to get a chance to catch up.

They quickly agreed to have lunch together, grabbing food from the small on campus cafeteria to take outside. It was a beautiful day outside, perfect for having a little picnic while hanging out with your oldest friends.

Chloe picked at her food, her posture more slumped than Adrien had ever seen it. In fact, everything about Chloe looked off that day. The small frown on her face had stayed persistently since Adrien first saw her in the hallway, and her hair even seemed flatter than normal. Sabrina, on the other hand, just seemed a little more awkward. Other than that, she seemed to feel just as well as Adrien himself.

“So,” Adrien began, “first day, huh? We made it!”

“Yay.” Chloe drawled, waving a fist lazily. 

Sabrina looked over at Adrien, a small smile on her face. “It is pretty exciting, considering how long we’ve talked about coming here.”

“That’s exactly how I feel!” Adrien offered a high-five to the ginger weapon, grinning when she accepted it. “It’s not exactly what I imagined, but this is still a dream come true for me.”

Chloe scoffed quietly, drawing the attention back to her. Had her first night been that terrible? The only way to find out was to ask. “So what happened after you ran off, Chloe? What’s your partner like, how was your first night and all that?”

“What didn’t happen?” Chloe grumbled, stabbing at her salad with her fork like the vegetables had personally offended her. “You saw the standings, we’re dead last, completely failed our first mission.”

Yeah, that had been quite a shock for Adrien. He had believed that he’d be in last after the disaster that had been his first mission, and yet below his name had been Chloe’s. “What happened? From the little I saw you and Alix, was it? You seemed to get along.”

Chloe’s expression darkened. “Alix, yeah. We did get along at first, until I found out she…”

The blonde meister trailed off, scowling down at her food. Sabrina shared a look with Adrien, then raised one eyebrow at the other girl. “You found out she what? Does she live in a swamp or think soap is a conspiracy theory?”

“No, nothing like that.” That would be a deal breaker, especially for Chloe. Adrien couldn’t picture his best friend lasting very long with a partner that didn’t use soap. “She just- nevermind, it’s whatever. We haven’t exactly spoken since we got back from that whole mess.”

Adrien grimaced. Chloe’s whole situation sounded so rough. He was awfully lucky to have three partners who got along as well as they did that morning. Just imagining any of them giving him the silent treatment made his stomach churn. “How’d you manage moving in without speaking to each other?”

“Tape.” Chloe spat the word, her face scrunched in disgust. “She got there first and separated everything with tape.”

“Damn.” Sabrina muttered, and Adrien had to agree. Damn was right. The weapon girl turned to Adrien, an awkward smile on her face. “What about you, Adrien? According to the board, you’ve got quite the story.”

“You have no souls either.” Chloe squinted at him, as if she could get all the information she needed just by looking at him. “Not to mention how many partners you apparently have.”

Adrien let out a little laugh, which sounded awkward to his own ears. Right, he had to explain his situation. He hadn’t had much time to digest it all himself, frankly, between the mission, that meeting with his father, and moving in last night. The only reason he was actually at school was through some miracle, he was sure. His father never would’ve been as forgiving otherwise.

“Well, after I lost you both in the hall, I ran into Kagami, Luka, and Marinette and we just sorta clicked? Like, all four of us felt a weird connection to each other. Marinette’s a meister like me, and the other two are weapons so it works in a way. We didn’t really do so great on our mission, failed it. I think we just needed some practice as a team of four first, honestly.”

The two girls blinked back at him. Chloe opened her mouth, and paused slightly before actually saying anything. “Oh wow.”

“It felt weird with four, but not a bad weird, you know?” Adrien tried to explain, but he couldn’t come up with the words to describe how he felt when he was with the others. He hadn’t felt anything quite like it before, and now that he was apart from them again, it felt like a chunk of his soul had gone with them.

Sabrina tilted her head, nibbling at the straw in her drink. “While I’m surprised they didn’t split you into two duos, you seem happy with them.”

And he was happy with them. There had been times when they first met that Adrien was afraid the whole thing would fall apart. Especially when Marinette had gotten hurt, he’d been terrified when he saw her hands.

Kagami’s lightning was an issue they still had to discuss, but he was sure that they’d find a way to work through it. Maybe they’d even touch on it in their remedial class later.

“They didn’t have any dorms built for four, though.” They’d been offered a trio dorm as their first choice while they waited for the construction to finish on the new quad room. The issue had been that the only vacant trio room was over in the wing with the upper year students, all the way on the other side of DUPONT. They’d all agreed that sharing a room for two was better than being so far from the other students their age. “It’s all good though, because sharing is just like a sleepover that doesn’t end in the morning!”

Sabrina hummed softly. “Sounds like fun.”

“Yeah? And what about you?” Chloe turned to the weapon girl, pointing her fork at her. “You got a soul, so you think you’re better than us?”

Adrien frowned at the other blonde. What was up with her? She had no reason to get all prickly at Sabrina, not for something as trivial as being ahead in the class rankings. “Chloe-”

“Don’t worry Adrien, I know she doesn’t mean anything by it.” Sabrina smiled weakly, staring back down at her drink. “And no, I don’t think I’m better than you. Aurore and I just barely made it through our mission, we were lucky to even get that soul as it is.”

Aurore, that was her meister’s name. Adrien noticed that Sabrina had smiled when she spoke of her partner, and that made him happy. He was glad that after everything, she had found a new friend. “And how are you and Aurore? As partners.”

Sabrina smiled for real this time, putting her drink cup down. “We had some time to get to know each other during the mission, and she’s wonderful. We work together really well.”

What a group they made, the three of them. The two meisters that had been called the best of their generation, failing their trial jobs, and the weapon that had out performed both of them. 

The bell that went off five minutes before the afternoon block sounded, signalling the end of lunch. The three made their way back inside, Chloe storming along silently while Adrien and Sabrina discussed moving in in more detail. The other three he was rooming with had brought some interesting stuff with them, like Luka’s guitar, or Marinette’s sewing machine.

They split up at the door to their next class with a promise to talk again, and Adrien beamed as he spotted his partners across the room. Marinette and Luka were laughing softly, probably at something Kagami said, judging by the confused look on the weapon’s face. Luka was between the two girls this time, an empty spot left for him beside Kagami. 

It was only the first day of school, yet Adrien could tell that it was going to be a good one. He had the best partners in all of DUPONT, after all.

...

Kagami hadn’t met many people that she could genuinely say scared her.

It was an incredibly short list, and had consisted solely of a cheap clown entertainer that had been present at the birthday party of one of her father’s stranger relatives and the man in the dark clothes that had followed her home after school as a child, at least until she was switched to homeschooling. It was just the two, until she met their second teacher.

Ms Mendeleiev was the complete opposite of Ms Bustier, as she saw it. Ms Bustier, the meister with the soft smile who explained concepts in a way that Kagami had never heard, yet it made complete sense. Ms Mendeleiev, the weapon who glared at the boy in the red hoodie for asking to use the restroom twenty minutes into class. 

One of her older cousins used to tell Kagami scary stories about a mad scientist. He claimed that the scientist experimented on themselves and went crazy, now searching the world for wandering weapon children to continue their experiments on. Kagami wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Ms Mendeleiev had inspired those stories.

With her wide goggles that rested on her dark burgundy hair, a pair of rectangular glasses on her scowl twisted face, and a long- burnt at the tips- lab coat rolled to her elbows and hanging at her knees. Ms Mendeleiev meant business with the snap of her latex gloves and the crack of her ruler against the table.

While their morning class had been all about souls and weapons and meisters, the afternoon block was reserved for regular studies. Sciences, math, languages, all the stuff that felt silly to learn about while training to kill monsters. Back at home, Kagami had tutors teach her the material covered in regular school alongside her weapon training of course, but she was never as invested. The fundamentals of chemistry seemed arbitrary when she was aiming to become one of Death’s weapons.

The combination of fear and boredom slapped Kagami in the face, creating a wildfire feeling that made her mind feel far away yet heightened her senses. She could feel each sneaker squeak pulling at the edges of her attention, not that she could respond. It was like someone had left an ‘ _out for lunch_ ’ sign on her brain.

She was sure that this is what hell was like.

The only thing that had kept Kagami from floating away in the middle of class was the soft tapping on her left. She’d noticed Luka’s little habit of bouncing the soft end of his pencil to his own mental rhythm back in their first class. Then it had been rather distracting, but now it was her saving grace.

She almost missed Adrien’s rambling about his excitement. It was better than this teacher’s grating voice, going on about how any foolishness or ‘funny’ business would not be tolerated in her classroom. Her list of rules started at mundane and quickly turned into what felt like their own stories.

What was Kagami supposed to do with ‘ _don’t chew bubble gum in the middle of class and pop it right at the moment we are playing with fire and set the bubblegum on fire to which you’d spit it on the ground and set the desk on fire_ ’?

This was the first time Kagami really zoned out in class before and she felt it was completely valid. She was screwed if there was some pop quiz on this ridiculousness the next time they had an afternoon class.

The afternoon seemed to tick away slower, the clock essentially mocking her as it appeared to slow right before her eyes. At least she didn’t seem to be the only one suffering. One glance around the room revealed that at least half of the other students were seconds away from falling asleep right at their desks. Including Luka’s…

Her eyes narrowed. She had seen that girl before, dragging Luka around the hall the day they first became partners, dragging him away from her. Something about that girl made Kagami feel slightly ticked. And then in the hall this morning, when he was hanging off of her.

This was definitely not jealousy whatsoever. Kagami was just concerned that his girlfriend- girl, friend, friend that was- his friend was going to distract him. She was concerned. Yes.

Yes.

_Ahem_.

Anyways.

Kagami had halted her dead stare at the wall clock when her thoughts had swept her away. While it had moved at a snail’s pace under her watch, the second she took her eyes off time had apparently zoomed away. There was just a few minutes left to that awful period. At least she knew what class to dread everyday.

Ms Mendeleiev was still going over her insane rule list, now discussing the dangers of having shoelaces tied in any style but the one she had listed. Was this woman seriously going to punish them if they laced their shoes in a method other than her own?

The answer was yes.

Death, Kagami hated this class so much. Usually she was able to just hammer through studies apathetically, work was work, work would be done, but death this was just, nail bitingly awful.

“-And last but certainly not least, weapon students are to remain in their human forms at all times in my classroom. I will know, even if you try to hide it.” The woman barked, once again smacking her finger on the long list posted to the wall. “Safety first. Speaking of SAFETY-“

The long wave of groans that would’ve erupted from the class, which would have resulted in an immediate reprimanding, was cut off by the bell- to which everyone immediately and hastily scuffled out of the class, each of them trying to escape the horrors of the teacher as Ms Mendeleiev shouted not to run.

Under normal circumstances, Kagami would be heading back to her dorm to start any work that had been assigned in class right away. That’s what the schedule intended, after all. But no, she and her three teammates had ten minutes to prepare for their remedial lessons. The only instruction they had been given was to be ready to work hard, which was no help at all.

Kagami had no clue what was going to happen. Who would be there, if it was going to be just them, if it would be some sort of detention-like cram session, who would teach- Death, she prayed Ms Mendeleiev wouldn’t teach them.

“That felt like it lasted forever!” Marinette whined, dragging her feet as they made their way through the halls. “The only reason why my brain didn’t melt was because Alya was drawing stuff on my journal including a picture of Ms Mendeleiev as a dinosaur...”

That was strangely fitting.

“Everyone’s songs were screeching in agony.” Luka deadpanned, his normally relaxed tone of voice edged with annoyance. “It sounded like a dying orchestra.”

Adrien opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to argue, before he let it fall shut again. “I don’t want to sound mean, but that was the worst thing I’ve ever been through.”

“I feel the same.” Kagami agreed, though that only scraped the surface of how she felt. She’d rather drink liquid fire than sit through that class again.

“Oh! Luka!”

The group stuttered to a stop as they looked up to see two familiar girls standing near a row of vending machines. Kagami felt her eyebrows narrow as she immediately recognized one of them in particular.

Waving a hand over her, uh, attractive face, and pulling her dark purple streaked out of her copper honey eyes for a moment- the girl Kagami recognized as Luka’s girl- damn it friend! His friend. Not- Dagh! This had to be a weapon thing... The girl Kagami recognized as Luka’s _companion_ , waved a hand towards them. The blonde one from that morning was there as well, smiling.

“Jules, hey.” Luka approached the taller of the two, his _companion_ , stepping into her personal space to greet her. “What’s up? Do you need something?”

Companion girl, ’ _Jules_ ’, tucked a lock of hair behind her ear as she looked softly as Kagami’s partner, letting out a small chuckle. “Do you want to get dinner together later? I know we spent lunch together, but I heard there’s a shop down the street with cheap shrimp.”

Dinner? Dinner?? _And_ lunch? Who was this? Kagami didn’t like this weird twisting feeling in her chest, and judging by the slightly sour frown on Marinette’s face she didn’t either.

“Dinner? I’ll totally go with you to get sketchy, cheap seafood, but I’ve actually got a remedial class right now.” Luka explained, rocking back on his heels. 

Yes. Don’t go with the weird girl who looks straight out of a horror movie and plays with her hair strangely. Yes Luka. Let’s leave.

“Remedial classes huh?” ‘Jules’ mused, tilting her head amusedly. “I figured Mr. Eat My Dust would get something for being in the bottom twoooooooo- oh JEEZ-!“

‘Jules’ stumbled backwards and shrunk behind Luka as her eyes drifted behind him, falling onto Kagami herself. 

“Jules?” Luka questioned, tilting his head around as ‘Jules’ just shrunk more behind him. The girl beside them giggling, softly murmuring something along the lines of ‘like a little kitten’.

“Scary weapon again.” ‘Jules’ muttered flatly, nervously pointing straight at Kagami. Kagami blinked. _Me?_

They all looked at her with wide eyes, her partners laughing quietly. Her, scary? No, that couldn’t be right. But the taller girl was pointing right at her, and Luka’s mouth had formed an understanding ‘o’.

“Jules no worries, she’s one of my partners. I guess I should introduce you all!” Luka said cheerfully. Introductions, _great_. “Jules, these are my partners. The blond one in the suit, that’s Adrien, and Marinette is the one with the pigtails. They’re both meisters. Kagami’s a weapon, and I promise you that she’s not actually scary.”

‘Jules’ pulled herself out from behind Luka with a skeptical stare, and Kagami met it with a raised eyebrow. What about her was so scary? If anyone in the school was scary, it was Ms Mendeleiev.

Luka moved on to pointing at the two girls in front of them. “Guys, this is Juleka, and this Rose.” He smiled, pointing at each one correlating to said name “They’re-”

“You’re the ones at the top!?” Marinette exclaimed, stopping Luka mid sentence.

“The ones with seven points souls!?” Adrien gawked, his eyes comically wide, and Kagami herself felt her jaw drop a little.

“That’s us!” Rose grinned, making a peace sign with her hand as she beamed brightly. ‘Jules’, or rather Juleka, seemed to shrink in on herself even more. Kagami would have never guessed “Me and Jules are rocking it out on top!”

“It was- it was by chance- we just kinda bumped into more after our initial one kishin mission it was whatever...” She mumbled. “It’s not a big deal…”

Rose latched on to the taller girl’s arm, pouting up at her in a way that resembled a sad little puppy. “Stop selling yourself short! You were the one that noticed the six other kishins attacking that poor woman. You were amazing!”

Juleka’s face turned bright red, and Luka threw his arm around her shoulder. “Yeah, give yourself some credit. I just know that you deserve every last soul you collected.”

“Stop it,” she whined in response. Luka chuckled warmly as she squirmed under his hold. He pulled her closer to himself, and placed a small kiss on her forehead.

Kagami felt like she was gonna explode for some reason. It was such a small gesture, yet it felt like her own lightning had let loose in her chest. Why was she reacting so violently to something as inconsequential as a little forehead kiss?

“Wow, you and Juleka sure are close.” Marinette sounded like she had meant for her statement to come across like a little casual joke. However, mixed with the dry tone of her voice and the strained smile on her face, it came across very awkwardly.

Luka grinned, using his arm around Juleka to give her a quick side hug. “Why of course we are, she is my darling baby sister after all.”

_SISTER!?_

Kagami found herself shallowly laughing for some reason. “Oh, of course, that makes sense, a lot of sense.”

“Total sense!” Marinette nodded happily.

Kagami internally threw away the mental sword she was about to swing at Juleka’s head as the Tsurugi Heiress blushed a little in embarrassment. 

Luka chuckled as Juleka writhed in his hug like an angry feline. “Yep!” He said, popping the ‘p’.

“Luka I will _end_ you.” Juleka growled.

“You two are adorable!” Rose giggled.

They stayed to chat for another minute before Adrien glanced down at his watch and declared that they had less than a minute to get out to the courtyard. Waving the two girls in farewell, the square continued down the hall in a hurry. If they were late to their first remedial class, well, Kagami wouldn’t blame the administration for sending them packing on the spot.

Luka, at the front of their little pack, pushed open the door at the end of the hallway they had practically sprinted down. Running through it, they found themselves in the large courtyard, which for once, was nearly absent of wandering students and staff alike. All except for a single group, collected together.

“-Who even comes late to their remedial classes?” One of them snarked, a blonde in what looked to be very expensive high fashion clothing to Kagami, who slowly turned to look back at them. She froze when she saw them, her frown deepening into a scowl. “Aw damn. I have foot in mouth syndrome don’t I?”

“Chloe!?” That was Adrien, who was bent over to Kagami’s left, wheezing softly just as he had back during their failed mission. If this was how he got on after running, he wasn’t going to survive Kagami’s morning runs. “You didn’t tell me you had remedial classes!”

‘Chloe’ scoffed, rolling her eyes. _So much attitude for someone at the bottom of the rankings_ , Kagami thought to herself. They weren't going to get along at all, she could already tell. And to be honest, she could live with that.

“Well, neither did you or Sabrina.” Chloe remarked, glancing backwards to the group.

One of the others, a ginger haired girl with glasses, squeaked. _That must be Sabrina_. The taller blonde girl beside her, who Kagami assumed was her partner Aurore according to the ranking list, glared at Chloe.

“Yeah yeah, you kept a secret from your friends, big whoop.” Oh no, Kagami recognized that voice. Just as she dreaded, she spotted Plagg, standing just behind their classmates with his partner Tikki. Marinette looked like she was about to combust on sight. “Now that the disaster quartet decided to show up, we can finally get this show on the road.”

Tikki flicked at his temple, and Kagami didn’t feel bad for finding Plagg’s flailing reaction amusing. “You dolt, we can’t fight on school property without a supervisor present!”

“Fight?” Sabrina spluttered, the fear visible in her teal eyes.

The last of their classmates, who was rather short with loud pink hair, his- theirs? Hers? Kagami couldn’t tell- their face darkened by their black baseball cap, and now marred with disgust. This was probably Alix, Chloe’s partner. “Fight? You’re kidding.”

“Fight!” One of the others standing by Tikki and Plagg cheered, and _holy shit_ , if Plagg’s fashion sense was a zero out of ten, then their’s was deep into the negatives. Kagami didn’t have to look at Marinette to tell her soul had probably left her body in horror.

The rabbit hoodie was, _fine_ , but bright teal shirt with what looked like sonic the hedgehog on Totoro’s body with the words ‘Crying’ in what looked like a rocker band’s font made Kagami’s eye twitch. The sweatpants and bunny slippers didn’t help.

“Not without supervision.” Tikki pressed, clearly fighting to maintain her cheery demeanor. “But yes, most of the remedial course consists of fighting and sparring to correct any form mistakes that may be disrupting you souls’ wavelength flow.”

That was actually pretty logical. Kagami had assumed that they’d be fighting as a means of physical punishment, but she was pleasantly surprised. Some extra practice would greatly improved how they performed as a team of four. Perhaps they’d be able to figure out just how that would work with the help of more experienced students.

“And so... no fighting. Yet.” Tikki pressed gently with a gentle smile “Not until we have supervision. We are all still students. Even if we’ll be here to... help.”

Fashion Disaster Number 1 huffed, though the disappointment passed as they moved on to try and stick some gum into Plagg’s hair.

“So what are we waiting for then?” Alix asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Before anyone could answer, the doors on the opposite end of the courtyard swung open, and the assistant from their meeting with Mr Agreste, Nathalie, stepped out. Under one arm she carried a folded lawn chair, and in the other her tablet. With a single practiced flick, she unfolded her chair and took a seat facing the group watching her.

“Apologies for being late,” She said, her voice strained as she adjusted her glasses “There was an urgent meeting Headmaster Agreste had to attend to and I was to join, it was a whole thing, I’m here now.”

Plagg spun back to face them again, smacking away the walking thrift store’s extended hand easily. “And that’s our cue to start! Mini Agreste and gang, you’re with me and Tikki!”

“Tikki and _I_.” His partner corrected evenly. She switched on her beaming smile, waving for them to follow as she and Plagg moved to one of the corners of the courtyard. “Come along now, we don’t want to waste too much time!”

The square shared glances with one another and Kagami immediately extended her arm backwards to be held by whichever of her miesters- only to retract the moment she felt bandage against her skin.

Turning around, she met Marinette’s soft eyes, the other girl gingerly lacing their fingers back together. Marinette looked like she trusted her, but... Kagami’s eyes narrowed at her own hand. Could she trust herself not to hurt the girl?

_Focus, Tsurugi_ , Kagami told herself, shaking her head as she looked away from the girl to face their soon-to-be opponents. Plagg had his hands in his pockets, leaning lazily against the wall while Tikki did some casual stretches.

She could see Luka slowly edge himself closer to Adrien, ready to be used at a moment's notice as well. _Protect them_ , they both thought, _protect them._

“Alright then kiddos- let’s make this clear.” Plagg said, turning around to them with a smile “We’re here to help you improve.”

“You’re all talented kids, we can already tell.” Tikki added sweetly.

“But we’ll be working you to the bone. Pushing you to the limits, and help you not only get caught up, but to have the ability to step above your classmates if you put in the work. Only then, will you kids be able to graduate the Remedial Course.” Plagg smiled. 

Tikki stopped her stretches, shaking herself out a little. “C’mon, get ready! You can’t fight us like that.”

Kagami saw Luka and Adrien share a look, before the shorter boy was expertly twirling the other boy’s scythe form. Marinette gave Kagami’s hand a little tug, giving her a soft smile. “What are you waiting for?”

“I-” Kagami cleared her throat, struggling to maintain her composure, “-I hurt you last time, what if I hurt you again?”

Marinette eyes softened. “Kagami, you’re one of the kindest people I know. You could never hurt me.”

That was a lie. The bandages on Marinette’s hands were a sign of that. She’d been cocky, and that had lead to her injuring her teammate, injuring _Marinette_. She couldn’t risk that again, not yet. Thankfully, she had other options. 

“I’ll use my water form.” Kagami let her voice drop, hoping it didn’t carry over to their opponents. “It’s a kamayari, a spear with one main blade and two smaller ones on either side. I won’t be able to summon any water here though, if that’s alright.”

The meister grinned, taking a step back so that their arms had to extend between them to keep their hands clasped. “If you think that’s our best option, then. I trust you.”

_I trust you_. Those simple words echoed within Kagami’s soul and sent her mind reeling for a moment before she silently nodded and transformed. Her eyes slowly opened and there she could feel Marinette’s touch from outside her window of vision.

“Now that we’re done with all of that silly business-“ Plagg purred, his toothy smile stretching across his lips-

There was a sudden flash of light, and Kagami’s eyes squeezed shut for a moment from within her weapon form. When the light faded, there stood Tikki, a bright smile on her pleasant face as she happily bashed her two gauntlets, Plagg, together.

Each was made of a shiny, black metal, the green accents so bright they appeared to glow in the afternoon light. They were connected by a dark chain, and each knuckle sported sharp, claw-like blades. The metal at the base of each gauntlet was a brilliant silver, small studded spikes poking out at even intervals.

They were the perfect killing machines for tearing kishin- and inexperienced teenagers- to shreds.

“-Let’s hope you kids survive!” Tikki pepped up, her eyes shining with an excited glow. Her once kind smile twisted, reminding Kagami of a predator that knew it had trapped its prey. If she continued that metaphor, that made them the prey.

_Uh oh._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woop woop, there it is! The first non-introductory chapter is finally here! The main story starts now folks!
> 
> Kagami's third (and final) weapon form was revealed! A water spear, ooh la la. And Plagg's weapon form too! Was it what you were expecting?
> 
> Let us know what you thought of this one, likes, dislikes. If you have a prediction for any of the unrevealed weapons you can share those as well! 
> 
> Until next time, y'all

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the chaos. Join us for the ride, as both of us: SymphonicScream and Sorryjustanotherperson, take you readers on a ride of batshit chaos.
> 
> Follow us on our tumblrs:  
> @Symphonic-scream  
> and  
> @Justanotherpersonsuniverse


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